LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALS WORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
^Accessions  No.SZ^^^ •      Class  No. 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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TH 


BETTER  LAND; 


THE  BELIEVER'S  JOURNEY 
FUTUEE   HOME. 


BY 


AUGUSTUS  C.  THOMPSON, 

PASTOR    OF    THE    E  L  I  O^X,  .0  Ife¥  R  C  H  ,    ROXBTJRY,    MAI 

^^  OF  TEB    ^  ^ 

£iOSTON: 
GOULD     AND     LINCOLN. 

NEW  YORK :   SHELDON,  BLAKEMAN  &  CO. 
CINCINNATI :  GEO.  S.  BLANCHARD. 

1858. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854,  by 

GOULD    &    LINCOLN, 

IB  tlie  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


aTEKSOTTPID     BT 

HOBART   k  ROBBINS, 

New  England  Tjpe  and  Stereotype  Foundry, 

BOSTON. 

GKO.   C    RAND,   PRINTER,  3  COBNHILL. 


»,    TBS     *•>< 

JISriVBESIT 


7] 


E^ 


CONTENTS 


LETTER  OF  REQUEST, 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    PILGRIMAGE. 

JOUENETINO    TO    HEAVEN TEBBESTRIAL    PARADISE.— LITTLE    NEEDED  — 

TBAVELLINa  SANCTIFIED  —  REALITY   OP  THE  BETTER  LAND.    .     .    11 16 


CHAPTER    II. 

CLUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL. 

LONGING    FOB   CANAAN  —  PRESENT  WORLDLINESS  —  PROMISE   OF  THE    BET- 
TER   LAND DIFFERENT  VIEWS CHRIST    ALL   IN    ALL ASSIMILATING 

POWER  —  ANTEPASTS 17 — 30 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   III. 

WAYMARKS. 

EARTH  A  MEMENTO  —  THE  MOUNTAINS  REMEMBRANCERS  —  THE  ROCK  01  AGES 
—  ALPINE  HORN THE  PRAIRIE THE  CAVE  —  SANCTIFICATION  PRO- 
GRESSIVE—  LIGHT  OF  HEAVEN  —  MONTMORENCI  —  THE  SAGUENAY  AND 
ETERNITY  POINT  —  THE  RAPIDS A  VOYAGE  —  THE  TROPICS.    .31 — 49 


CHAPTER   IV. 

GLIMPSES    OF   THE   LAND. 

THE  PROTO-MABTYR  —  WALKER  OF  TRURO -^  JANEWAY  —  SIGHT  OF  JESUS 
—  DR.  OWEN STEPHEN'S  PRAYER  —  MARGARET  WILSON  —  BORDER- 
LANDS  50  —  59 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE    PASSAGE. 

DEATH    NOT    SEEN  —  THE    SCEPTIC  —  DR.    GORDON BELIEVERS    DIE  —  NO 

SLEEP   OF  THE  SOUL — NO   PURGATORY  —  GLORY  OF   HEAVEN  —  EXULTA- 
TION IN  DEATH EASY  TO   DIB  —  WHAT  IS  DYING  ? GO — 72 


CONTENTS.  V 

CHAPTER   VI. 

RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS. 

MISTAKEN    COiVCEPTION — SENTIMENTS    OF   HEATHEN — SOCRATES  —  CICERO 

—  SCRIPTURE     TESTIMONY CHRISTIAN     "WRITERS CYPRIAN  —  CHRY- 

80ST0M  —  LUTHER  —  ZWINQLE  —  BAXTER  —  ELIOT  —  THE  ACQUAINTANCE 
GENERAL  —  DR.  EMMONS  —  THE  PREACHER'S  JOY  —  CHRIST  ATJi  IN 
ALL, 73 90 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    HEAVENLY    BANQUET. 

man's   SOCIALITY  —  IDENTITY  —  RECOGNITION  A  MEANS  TO  AN  END  —  FEL- 
LOWSHIP THE  GENERAL  BELIEF AMBROSE,  CALVIN,  DODDRIDGE,  NEWTON, 

BAXTER  • —  CHRIST    GIVES  ASSURANCE WHO    THE    GUESTS  ? FROM  ALL 

PERIODS,   RACES    AND    BANKS NUMBER INDIVIDUALITY    UNIMPAIRED 

.— '  HOMOQENEOUSNESS  —  APPEAL 91 — 108 


CHAPTER   YIII. 

CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN. 

DAVID'S    CHILD  —  DYING    INFANTS  —  SILENCE   OF  THE  BIBLE  —  SALVATION 

BY  CHRIST  ALONE ROMISH  DOCTRINE REFORMERS LATER  DIVINES 

—  A  MAJORITY  IN  HEAVEN  —  INFANTICIDE  ANCIENTLY   AND  IN  MODERN 
TIMES  —  INFANTS     SACRIFICED  —  INSTIGATION     OF    SATAN  —  IT    IS    "WELL 

WITH  THE  CHILD 109 — 123 

1* 


VI  *  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS. 

SCEPTICISM  —  ANGELS  EXALTED  AND  NUMEROUS  —  THEIR  RANKS  —  THEMES 
OF  CONVERSE CREATION,  REDEMPTION,  REGENERATION  —  THEIR  MIN- 
ISTRATIONS —  JOYFUL  FELLOWSHIP  —  ADVANCE  IN  KNOWLEDGE  —  AD- 
VANCE IN  HOLINESS  —  HARMONY  —  PRESENT  MINISTRATIONS  —  CONVOY 
DEPARTING  SAINTS 124: — 141 


CHAPTER   X. 

SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR. 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  BETTER  LAND  —  PRESENT  CURIOSITY   NOT   GRAT- 
IFIED—  SCRIPTURE    EVIDENCE  —  THE    SAVIOUR'S   IDENTITY GLORY   OF 

HIS  PERSON PUNITIVE  JUSTICE  NO   BARRIER  —  CHRIST  AS  REDEEMER  — 

FULL    APPRECIATION  —  PERSONAL    CONVERSE  —  CYRUS    AND    CHRYSANTAS 
—  ASSIMILATING  INFLUENCE  —  FACILITIES 142 — 162 


CHAPTER    XI. 

HEAVENLY    HONOR   AND   RICHES. 

JNEXPECTED  AFKNITIES  —  SAINTS  TO  BE  GLORIFIED  —  SCRIPTURE  PROOF  — 

GOLD  AN  EMBLEM  —  POOR  RICH  MAN HEAVENLY  TREASURES   SECURE  — 

SATISFYING  —  AVAILABLE  —  BEAUFORT   AND    PAULINU8 — HONOR  TO    THE 
SAVIOUR 163 176 


CONTENTS.  '  Vn 

CHAPTER   XII. 

NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN. 

EABTH  NOT  THE  BETTER  LAND THE  DEAD  IN  CHRIST  BLESSED  —  NO   HUN- 
GER  OR  THIRST SENSES   PERFECT  —  NO   FATIGUE  —  NO   SICKNESS,  PAIN, 

OR  DEATH  —  NO   OUTWARD  ANNOYANCES  —  NO   SOCIAL  EVILS  —  NO   MEN- 
TAL DISORDERS  —  NO   SIN 177 — 1?'' 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

HOLINESS    OF    HEAVEN. 

A   GREAl   CITY  A  GREAT  EVIL  —  THE   NEW  JERUSALEM  —  CITIZENS  ALL  HOLY 

—  HOLINESS     COMPLETE     AND     PROGRESSIVE NO     COVETOUSNESS NO 

AMBITION  —  PRESENT   CULTURE 190 — 198 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN. 

mSOONCEPTIONS  AND   SENTIMENTALISM REST    REAL  —  NO    IDLENESS  —  NO 

FATIGUE MADE   FOR  EFFORT ACTIVITY  A  LAW  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  — 

THE  DEPARTURE  OF  SAINTS  A  GENERAL   GAIN 199 — 209 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XV. 

RESURRECTION    BODY. 

THE   FOUR  EPOCHS — BE8TJREECTI0N  A  TEST-TRUTH  —  SCRIPTURE  PROOFS  — 

ILLUSTRATIVE    EXAMPLES  —  THE    SAME    BODY  —  A    SPIRITUAL     BODY 

INCORRUPTIBLE  —  IMMORTAL    YOUTH PERFECT    BEAUTY CHRISTIAN 

EPITAPHS  —  FUTURE  RECOGNITION 210 — 223 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

PERPETUITY  OF   BLISS   IN   HEAVEN. 

LIFE  FLEETING ENDLESS  LIFE  —  EVERLASTING   INHERITANCE  —  PERMANENT 

REGISTRATION A   CONTINUING    CITY  —  AN  ETERNAL    HABITATION NO 

MORE    GOING    OUT MEASUREMENT    OP    ETERNITY  —  ELEVATING    INFLU- 
ENCE —  FOREVER  WITH  THE  LORD 224 — ^244 


%ditx. 


EoxBURY,  June  28,  1854. 

Kev.  a.  C.  Thoi^ipson  : 

Dear  Sir, — 

In  view  of  your 
contemplated  absence  from  us,  —  your  voyage  to  a 
distant  land,  —  and  your  travels  and  labors  abroad, 
in  company  with  our  friend  and  fellow  church- 
member,  Kev.  Dr.  Anderson,  —  we  take  the  liberty 
to  request  that  you  will  furnish  for  publication 
thoughts  and  illustrations  which  we  have  heard  from 
you,  relating  to  Heaven  and  Heavenly-mindedness. 


X  LETTER. 

We  desire  to  preserve  and  peruse  them  as  a 
lasting  remembrance  of  our  beloved  Pastor  and 
friend.  It  is  our  belief,  also,  that  such  a  volume 
win  be  read  and  prized  by  many  others. 

^       With  sincere  wishes  for  your  health  and 
happiness, 

We  are,  most  truly. 

Your  friends, 

♦  SAMUEL  H    WALLEY, 

ALVAH  EITTREDGE, 
HENRY  HILL, 
WM.  W.  DAVENPORT, 
ABNER  KINGMAN, 
BENJ.  PERKINS. 


f 

BETTEK    LAND. 


CHAPTER    I. 

^  THE    PILGRIMAGE. 

Give  me  my  scallop-shell  of  quiet, 

My  staff  of  faith  to  walk  upon, 
My  scrip  of  joy,  (immortal  diet !) 

My  bottle  of  salvation, 
My  gown  of  glory,  hope's  true  gage; 
—  And  thus  I  take  my  pilgrimage. 

Over  the  silver  mountains. 
Where  spring  the  nectar  fountains. 
There  will  I  kiss 
The  howl  of  bliss, 
j^  And  drink  mine  everlasting  fill. 

Upon  every  milken  hill ; 
My  soul  will  be  a-dry  before, 
But  after  that  will  thirst  no  more. 

Sir  Walter  Kaleigh. 

"A  VOYAGE  to  a  distant  land,"  —  such  is  the 
life  of  every  believer,  and  a  sanctified  association 
of  ideas  naturally  suggests  *' thoughts  on  heaven." 
"They  that  say  such  things  declare  plainly  that 
they  seek   a  country,  that  is,   a  heavenly.     Not 


12  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

having  received  the  promises,  but  having  seen  them 
afar  off,  they  are  persuaded  of  them,  and  embrace 
them,  and  confess  that  they  are  strangers  and  pil- 
grims on  the  earth,  —  that  they  desire  a  better 
country,  that  is,  a  heavenly/' 

It  is  too  late  in  the  history  of  a  race  groping  in 
darkness,  to  embark  in  an  attempt  to  find  the 
garden  that  was  planted  eastward  in  Eden.  In 
former  times  there  was,  to  be  sure,  no  geographical 
problem  which  awakened  so  much  interest  as  that 
ancient  locality.  No  other  has  given  rise  to  such 
extravagant  opinions.  Some  of  the  allegorizing 
fathers  believed  there  never  was,  actually,  any 
Paradise ;  that  it  existed  only  in  metaphor.  Others, 
allowing  it  a  local  reality,  placed  it  in  the  third 
heaven,  in  the  moon,  in  the  air,  under  the  earth, 
where  the  Caspian  Sea  now  is,  and  under  the  equa- 
tor. Classical  nations  pictured  their  traditional 
Paradise,  the  Garden  of  Hesperides,  as  an  island, 
or  islands,  somewhere  in  the  ocean.  There  have 
been  those  who  supposed  that  the  primitive  abode 
of  man  was  in  Ceylon,  in  Tartary,  in  Sweden,  on 
the  Danube,  in  Ethiopia,  or  among  the  Mountains 
of  the  Moon  in  Africa.  There  are,  indeed,  other 
and  comparatively  probable  theories ;  but  it  must 
be  confessed  impossible  to  identify  the  precise  spot 


THE    PILGRIMAGE.  13 

of  the  present  globe  where  our  first  parents  were 
originally  placed.  The  sooner  men  give  up  search- 
ing for  a  terrestrial  Eden,  and  direct  their  inquiries 
after  the  Paradise  of  God,  the  better. 

"And  Joshua  sent  men,  saying,  Go  up  and 
view  the  country.'*  ''  And  now  we  are  journeying 
unto  the  place  of  which  the  Lord  said,  I  will  give 
it  you :  come  thou  -with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee 
good.''  It  appears  from  the  great  Guide-book  that 
not  much  is  needed  for  this  life  alone  —  merely 
something  for  travelling  expenses  ;  that  investments 
are  not  to  be  made  here  by  the  way  ;  but  that  bills 
of  exchange  on  a  capital  the  other  side  are  wanting. 
We  are  enjoined  to  lay  up  treasures  there,  and  we 
find  that,  with  a  munificence  surpassing  description, 
the  best  of  securities  are  proiTered,  and  that  we  are 
supplied  with  promissory  notes  ''  exceeding  great 
and  precious." 

"Let  me  depart,  that  I  may  go  to  mine  own 
country,"  "because  the  king's  business  requireth 
haste."  On  our  way  to  the  Better  Land,  to  the 
celestial  city,  we  would  not  stop  at  every  poor,  pal- 
try village  this  side,  and  be  greatly  taken  with  the 
miserable  shows  that  present  themselves.  We 
would  be  unencumbered,  for  he  that  goes  lightest 
goes  fleetest.  It  was  happy  in'  the  Romans  to  caU 
2 


14  THE    BETTER    LAND 

baggage  impedimenta,  ''Wherefore,  laying  aside 
every  weigM,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily 
beset  us,  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  set 
before  us/' 

In  leaving  the  literal  home,  and  in  prosecuting  a 
literal  journey,  travellers  should  cherish  a  prayerful 
desire  that  all  they  meet  with  may  be  sanctified. 
There  is  a  religious  use  to  be  made  of  the  eyes  and 
ears,  and  all  the  incidents  of  an  excursion.  The 
very  conveniences  and  inconveniences  of  travelling, 
the  impudence  and  imposition  encountered,  bring 
hallowed  hints  to  a  devout  mind,  touching  the 
Better  Land.  There  will  be  no  noise,  no  rude- 
ness, no  fatigue  there  ;  no  want  of  suitable 
accommodations  ;  no  perilous  locomotion,  nor  one 
jarring  vehicle  in  all  that  world  ;  no  deceptive, 
petulant,  profane  guides ;  angels  never  ask  for  fees 
In  our  Father's  house  are  many  mansions,  but  no 
confined,  ill-ventilated,  infectious  rooms.  Bolts  are 
not  required  ;  bills  are  not  presented ;  police  are  not 
needed  in  the  New  Jerusalem. 

Even  a  high  enjoyment  of  the  objects,  scenes 
and  events  of  earth,  if  devoutly  managed,  is  no 
part  of  worldliness ;  it  is  using  the  world  as  not 
abusing  it ;  it  belongs  to  conversaticn  in  heaven. 
Appropriate  prayerful  use  of  what  pasF,es  before  us 


THE    PILGRIMAGE.  15 

will  only  foster  a  keener  relish  for  things  unseen. 
Cultivating  such  a  habit,  we  shall  he  laying  up 
treasures  in  heaven.  We  would,  then,  have  our 
senses  all  on  the  alert ;  we  would  drink  in  the 
living  colors  that  float  at  daybreak,  at  noontide, 
and  in  the  softened  hour  of  fading  day.  We  would 
stamp  on  our  memory  an  image  of  the  enchanting, 
glorious  garniture  of  sky,  rivers,  lakes,  sea,  moun- 
tains and  vaUeys,  and  would  let  praise  and  prayer 
to  God  hallow  all.  Beholding  thus  with  open  face 
as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  we  shall  be 
changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory. 

"And  their  brethren  said  unto  them.  What  say 
ye  ?  And  they  said.  Arise,  for  we  have  seen  the 
land,  and  behold,  it  is  very  good.''  In  declaring 
plainly  that  we  seek  a  better  country,  we  do  not 
consider  ourselves  to  be  on  a  voyage  of  discovery. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  other  world  is  derived  from 
sources  very  different  from  those  which  carried 
hints  concerning  the  existence  of  this  western  con- 
tinent to  the  shores  of  Europe,  —  floating  trees  and 
plants,  borne  by  the  gulf-stream  from  the  tropics. 
He,  who  alone  came  down  from  heaven,  who  is 
himself  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life,  has  declared, 
"If  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you  :  I  will 
come   again   and  receive  you   unto    myself,   that 


16  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  In  the 
midst  of  our  toiling  and  rowing,  Jesus  cometh 
to  us,  about  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  walking 
upon  the  sea  ;  and  presently  the  shipmen  deem  that 
they  draw  near  to  some  country.  ''  And  that 
knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to 
awake  out  of  sleep  ;  for  now  is  our  salvation 
nearer  than  when  we  believed ;  the  night  is  far 
spent,  the  day  is  at  hand." 

*'•  Our  life  is  like  the  hurrying  on  the  eve 
Before  we  start  on  some  long  journey  bound, 
When  fit  preparing  to  the  last  we  leave, 
Then  run  to  every  room  the  dwelling  round, 
And  sigh  that  nothing  needed  can  be  found ; 
Yet  go  we  must,  and  soon  as  day  shall  break ; 
We  snatch  an  hour's  repose,  when  loud  the  sound 
For  our  departure  calls  ;  we  rise  and  take 
A  quick  and  sad  farewell,  and  go  ere  well  awake." 


CHAPTER    II. 

CLUSTERS     OF     ESHCOL. 

In  some  hour  of  solemn  jubilee, 
The  massy  gates  of  Paradise  are  thrown 
"Wide  open,  and  forth  come,  in  fragments  wild, 
Sweet  echoes  of  unearthly  melodies, 
And  odors  snatched  from  beds  of  amaranth. 
And  they  that  from  the  crystal  river  of  life 
Sprung  up  on  freshened  wing,  ambrosial  gales ! 
The  favored  good  man  in  his  lonely  walk 
Perceives  them,  and  his  silent  spirit  drinks 
Strange  bliss,  which  he  shall  recognize  in  heaven. 

COLERIDGl. 

A  triveJer,  after  a  long  journey,  when  he  is  weary  and  faint,  and 
Bits  down,  if  he  sees  the  town  before  him,  it  puts  life  into  him,  and 
he  plucks  up  his  feet,  and  resolves  not  to  be  weary  till  he  be  at  his 
Carney's  end.  O,  look  at  the  crown  and  white  robe  set  before 
you,  and  faint  if  you  can:  get  on  the  top  of  Mount  Nebo, — 
look  on  the  land  of  promise,  —  those  good  things  set  before  you  ; 
taste  the  grapes  of  Canaan  before  you  come  to  Canaan. 

Nalton. 

All  superior  minds  are  enterprising.  They  are 
marked  by  an  activity  which  conceives  and  attempts 
greater  things  than  the  surrounding  multitude. 
Their  spheres  of  effort  may  be  various,  their  powers 
unlike,  their  measures  of  success  very  diverse,  yet 
2* 


18  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

all  minds  which  impress  themselves  upon  others, 
and  accomplish  much  for  good  or  evil,  are  charac- 
terized by  a  forth-putting  energy  and  courage. 
Little  souls  are  timorous.  They  venture  nothing  ; 
they  do  not  aspire  ;  they  do  not  grow ;  for  they 
shrink  within  themselves,  listless  and  inactive. 

Among  those  sent  from  Kadesh  Barnea  to  ex- 
plore the  land  of  promise,  were  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
men  of  true  enterprise,  and  their  subsequent  career 
showed  them  possessed  of  a  persevering  and  sancti- 
fied energy.  They  never  lost  the  impressions  of 
their  visit  to  the  goodly  land ;  the  beauty  of  its 
prospects,  and  the  security  of  the  covenant  of  Jeho- 
vah's pledge  of  possession  to  them.  ''And  they 
came  unto  the  brook  Eshcol,  and  cut  down  from 
thence  a  branch  with  one  cluster  of  grapes,  and  they 
bore  it  between  two  upon  a  staff;  and  they  brought 
of  the  pomegranates  and  of  the  figs :  and  they 
said.  We  came  unto  the  land,  and  surely  it  floweth 
with  milk  and  honey  ;  and  this  is  the  fruit  of  it.*' 
Are  not  we  in  the  wilderness  ?  is  not  Canaan  before 
us  ?  are  not  clusters  of  Eshcol  presented  to  us  ? 
Shall  we  not  taste  of  the  same,  and  quicken  our 
steps  toward  the  Better  Land  ? 

Older  and  discerning  Christians  remark  an  unu- 
sual spirit  of  worldliness   in  the  churches.     It  is 


CLUSTERS    OP    ESHCOL.  19 

feared  by  judicious  fathers  and  mothers  in  Israel,  as 
well  as  by  younger  Calebs  and  Joshuas,  that  there 
are  tokens  of  defection ;  evidences  of  a  desire  to 
return  to  Egypt ;  and  that  idolatry,  in  the  form  of 
covetousness,  is  stealing  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  God.  Well  may  they  tremble  for  the  sacramental 
host  when  they  find  an  Aaron  sanctioning  the  dance 
around  some  golden  calf,  and  witness  such  ingrati- 
tude for  deliverance,  such  readiness  in  yielding  to 
the  seductions  of  neighboring  idolaters  ;  when  they 
hear,  too,  such  complaints  of  the  weariness  of  the 
way,  and  the  absence  of  Egyptian  luxuries ;  and 
behold  such  reluctance  to  go  forward  at  God's  com- 
mand, and  take  possession  of  the  promised  land. 
Strange  it  is,  and  deplorable,  that  fugitives,  under 
the  sanction  of  God's  own  right  arm,  should  sigh 
for  a  return  to  bondage  and  darkness ! 

The  worldly  spirit  deals  with  things  present.  It 
is  not  far-reaching  or  far-sighted,  but  its  range  is 
bounded  by  the  horizon  of  time.  It  has  no  wings ; 
it  is  of  the  earth,  earthy.  Whence  comes  the 
manna  ?  why  gushes  water  from  the  rock  ?  whither 
guides  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire  ?  —  are  ques- 
tions it  never  asks.  It  knows  not  how  to  soar ; 
how  to  anticipate  and  trust ;  how  to  see  him  who  is 
invisible,  and  to  repose  under  the  shadow  of  his 


20  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

wings,  unmindful  of  the  wilderness,  and  unalarmed 
by  foes.  But  the  heavenly-minded  man  walks  by 
faith,  —  that  faith  which  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.  And, 
among  the  great  verities  which  hold  possession  of 
his  soul,  no  one  has  a  firmer  lodgment  than  that  of 
the  saints'  everlasting  rest.  All  the  circumstances 
of  his  present  journey,  all  his  remembrances,  point  to 
a  Better  Land,  that  is,  a  heavenly.  But  most  of  all, 
the  word  of  the  Lord  hath  settled  it.  Did  he  not 
swear  unto  Abraham,  "I  wiU  give  unto  thee,  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee,  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an 
everlasting  possession  ?  "  In  the  horror  of  great 
darkness  that  fell  upon  him,  did  not  a  smoking  fur- 
nace and  a  burning  lamp  pass  between  the  cloven 
pieces,  to  ratify  the  covenant  ? 

"Again,  he  limiteth  a  certain  day,  saying,  in 
David,  To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not 
your  hearts.  For  if  Joshua  had  given  them  rest, 
then  would  he  not  afterward  have  spoken  of  another 
day.  There  remaineth,  therefore,  a  rest  to  the 
people  of  God.''  0,  yes,  in  every  assurance  of  the 
covenant-keeping  Jehovah  ;  in  every  believing  aspi- 
ration of  patriarchs  and  prophets  ;  in  every  mystery 
and  miracle  from  Messiah's  incarnation  to  his  ascen- 
sion ;    in  every  teaching  and  motion  of  the  Holy 


(LUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL.  21 

Spirit,  in  his  word  and  in  the  souls  of  the  sanctil&ed 
on  earth,  there  is  a  pledge  of  Canaan  to  come.  The 
spiritually-minded  know  this.  They  know  that  if 
they  are  Christ's  then  are  they  Abraham's  seed, 
and  heirs  according  to  the  promise.  Heaven  is  to 
them  no  mere  poetic  sentiment ;  no  speculative 
conjecture,  or  philosophical  deduction ;  no  tradi- 
tionary record  ;  but  an  assured  certainty.  Though 
not  having  received  the  promises,  they  have  seen 
them  afar  off.  The  heavenly-minded  man  has 
heavenly  things  in  mind.  The  objects  and  occu- 
pations of  the  world  above  are  not  mere  matters 
of  record  in  the  Bible,  themes  suggested  as  his 
eye  lights  upon  Baxter's  Saint's  Eest,  —  inter- 
esting subjects  upon  which  he  once  heard  a  lec- 
ture,—  items  of  pantology,  about  which  he  has  no 
doubt,  and  as  little  thought ;  they  fill  his  mind, — 
they  are  present  to  his  eye ;  they  are  home 
acquaintances.  Fully  persuaded  of  their  existence, 
and  expecting  presently  and  personally  to  enjoy 
them,  he  often  turns  to  the  directory  of  Canaan, 
which  inspiration  supplies.  He  passes  round  by  the 
ascent  of  Ahrabbim,  he  goes  up  from  Kadesh-bar- 
nea,  he  traverses  the  valley  of  Eshcol  and  Jordan, 
he  surveys  Carmel  and  Hermon,  and  that  goodly 
mountain,  Lebanon  ;  he  wanders  ever  the  vine-clad 


22  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

hills,  and  among  the  palm-groves  and  olive  orchards, 
till  he  seems  naturalized  and  domesticated  there. 

Yet,  our  conceptions  of  heaven  are  modified  by 
our  temperament,  condition  and  habits.  Robert 
Hall,  a  suiFerer  from  the  first  to  the  last  hour  of  his 
pilgrimage,  remarked,  *'My  chief  conception  of 
heaven  is  rest."  "Mine,**  replied  the  amiable 
Wilberforce,  "mine  is  love,  —  love  to  God,  and 
love  to  every  bright  and  happy  inhabitant  of  that 
glorious  place.'*  Both  were  right,  and  both  have 
also  found,  what  they  likewise  knew  on  earth,  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  chief  charm  and  glory 
of  that  world.  No  believer  can  meditate  intelli- 
gently, for  any  length  of  time,  upon  heavenly 
objects,  without  having  his  thoughts  drawn  to  the 
person  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords. 
He  it  was  who  came  down  from  heaven.  He  it  is 
whom  God  "raised  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at 
his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places,  far 
above  all  principality,  and  power,  and  mig]:t,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come  : 
and  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet,  and  gave 
him  to  be  the  head  over  all  things  to  the  church, 
which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all 
in  all.*'    He,  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life,  — He, 


CLUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL.  23 

the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  all  gracious  mamfestations, 
and  aU  sanctified  aspirations,  —  the  bond,  the  har- 
monizer  of  eternity  and  time,  of  the  infinite  and  the 
finite,  of  the  divine  and  the  human,  —  he,  in  every 
believer  the  hope  of  glory,  must,  to  all  saints,  seem 
the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand,  the  one  altogether 
lovely.  "  Blessed,''  do  they  cry,  ''blessed  be  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us  sit  to- 
gether in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus." 

*'  I  in  them,  and  they  in  me  "  !  0,  the  mystery 
of  that  mutual  indv^elling !  "I  wiU.  dwell  in 
them."  0,  the  condescension  of  Immanuel,  to 
convert  a  child  of  the  dust  into  a  temple  for  him- 
self !  to  come  and  sojourn,  ay,  be  a  tent  companion 
with  him !  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock  ;  if  any  man  wiU  hear  my  voice  and  open 
the  door,  I  wiU  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with 
him,  and  he  with  me."  And  when  Christ  comes 
he  always  brings  heaven  with  him.  Whoever  sups 
with  him  feeds  upon  hidden  manna,  the  true  bread 
which  Cometh  down  from  heaven.  But,  to  com- 
mune thus  with  Christ,  to  call  him  elder  brother, 
to  find  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,  is  not 
that  to  be  heavenly-minded  ?  It  is  heaven  in  the 
heart ;  it  is  glory  begun ;  it  is  salvation  antici- 


24  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

pated.  ''Whom,  having  not  seen,  ye  love;  in 
whom,  though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing, 
ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable,  and  full  of  glory  ; 
receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation 
of  your  souls." 

Others  are  "  of  the  world  ; "  they  think  of 
the  world,  speak  of  the  world,  live  for  the  world  ; 
whose  minds  the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded. 
True,  in  the  midst  of  this  intense  worldliness,  there 
may  be  abundant  discourse,  poetic  or  speculative, 
about  heaven,  which,  at  best,  has  only  an  sesthetic 
influence,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  sanctification. 
But  that  occupation  with  celestial  themes,  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  fosters,  has  a  mighty  assimilating  power. 
By  it  the  soul  is  elevated  and  ennobled.  Its  field 
and  its  powers  of  vision  are  enlarged,  and  the  rela- 
tive proportions  and  value  of  things  seen  and  un- 
seen are  more  clearly  appreciated,  and  practically 
felt. 

Worldly-minded  men  are  like  common  pendu- 
lums, that  feel  every  disturbing  influence ;  the 
heavenly-minded  man  is  like  that  of  Foucault ; 
though  connected  with  the  earth,  and  moving  with 
it,  still  it  keeps  faithfully  and  majestically  to  its 
own  independent  plane  of  vibration,  while  sur- 
rounding objects  rotate  continually.     Yea,  more  : 


CLUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL.  25 

"  His  hand  the  good  man  fastens  on  the  skies, 
Bids  earth  roll,  nor  feels  her  idle  whirl." 

Men  are  not,  however,  thus  unfitted  for  common 
occupations,  and  are  rendered  anything  but  indiffer- 
ent to  the  smaller  duties  and  mercies  of  life.  An- 
gels, probably,  minister  with  no  less  alacrity  to  them 
who  are  the  humblest  heirs  of  salvation,  than  to 
Him  who  is  their  Lord  and  ours.  The  command 
of  God  dignifies  any  service  ;  it  equalizes  all  obli- 
gations. Growth  in  the  grace  now  under  consider- 
ation only  infuses  a  more  genial  and  holy  warmth 
into  the  Christian's  ordinary  duties,  and  renders 
him  more  devoutly  sensitive  to  the  least  as  well  as 
the  greatest  of  all  God's  benefits.  The  spiritually- 
minded  man  is  no  gymnosophist,  gazing  vacantly 
at  the  heavens ;  he  is  a  Copernicus,  installing  the 
sun  as  centre  of  the  system,  and  reducing  our  earth 
to  its  proper  subordination.  No  one  who  wisely 
contemplates  the  starry  firmament  which  God  has 
ordained  will  make  it  revolve  round  the  insignifi- 
cant planet  we  occupy  ;  nor  can  any  one  who  has 
surveyed  the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  any 
longer  so  overvalue  the  wilderness  through  which 
he  journeys.  More  just  estimates  will  be  thus 
formed,  and  higher  aspirations  awakened.  Anaxago- 
ras  was  so  enamored  with  astronomical  studies  that 
3 


26  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

he  thought  himself  bom  to  contemplate  the  heav- 
ens ;  and,  when  reproved  for  not  seeking  the  public 
honors  and  offices  of  his  country,  he  replied,  "  My 
first  care  is  for  my  country/'  So  the  heavenly- 
minded  believer  regards  himself  as  having  less  to 
do  with  earth  than  with  the  skies.  Present  dis- 
tinctions, possessions  and  amusements,  cannot  fill 
his  eye.  He  is  only  a  stranger  here.  He  brought 
nothing  into  the  world,  he  can  carry  nothing  out.  His 
citizenship,  his  treasures,  his  heart,  are  in  heaven, 
and  his  hope  is  to  be  there  himself,  personally, 
wholly  and  forever.  When  the  rude  northern  peo- 
ple had  once  drank  of  the  sweet  wines  of  Italy, 
they  could  not  rest  satisfied  till  they  were  themselves 
quartered  in  that  pleasant  land.  So,  when  the  true 
Israel  of  God  have  but  tasted  of  the  clusters  of 
Eshcol,  they  are  fired  with  new  desires  to  go  up 
and  possess  that  land  which  the  Lord  hath  promised 
them.  A  holy  ardor  is  kindled.  When,  notwith- 
standing the  report  of  Caleb  and  Joshua,  the  timid 
host  were  fain  to  return  to  the  house  of  bondage, 
those  assured  champions  "spake  unto  aU  the  com- 
pany of  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  The  land 
which  we  passed  through  to  search  it,  is  an  exceed- 
ing good  land.  If  the  Lord  delight  in  us,  then 
wiU  he  bring  us  into  this  land,  and  give  it  us ;  a 


CLUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL.  27 

land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Only  rebel  ye 
not  against  the  Lord."  "  But  all  the  congregation 
bade  stone  them  with  stones."  Of  all  then  living 
only  those  two  entered  Canaan,  —  the  carcasses  of 
the  rest  falling  in  the  wilderness  ;  for  God  swore  in 
his  wrath  that  they  should  not  enter  into  his  rest. 
Every  true  believer  has  a  faith  which  works  by  love 
and  impels  to  effort.  In  proportion  as  this  heavenly 
temper  takes  possession  of  the  soul,  it  urges  to 
energetic,  self-sacrificing  enterprise.  You  may 
know  the  men  who  have  become  familiar  with  the 
land  of  promise  by  their  humble  yet  earnest  bear- 
ing ;  by  their  disinterested  readiness  to  do  good 
unto  all  men  as  they  have  opportunity,  but  specially 
unto  the  household  of  faith  ;  by  their  lovely  and 
noble  combination  of  amiable  and  commanding 
qualities.  Their  whole  walk  is  fragrant  of  Para- 
dise. "  All  their  garments  smell  of  myrrh,  and 
aloes,  and  cassia." 

"  When  one  that  holds  communion  with  the  skies 
Has  filled  his  urn  where  these  pure  waters  rise, 
And  once  more  mingles  with  us  meaner  things, 
'T  is  e'en  as  if  an  angel  shook  his  wings. 
Immortal  fragrance  fills  the  circuit  wide 
That  tells  us  whence  his  treasures  are  supplied. 
So  when  a  ship,  well  freighted  with  the  stores 
The  sun  matures  on  India's  spicy  shores, 

OP  r^y 


28  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

Has  du^pped  her  anchor  and  her  canvas  furled 
In  some  fair  haven  of  our  western  world, 
'T  were  vain  inquiry  to  what  port  she  went, 
The  gale  informs  us,  laden  with  the  scent." 

How  does  love  glow  towards  their  fellow-travel- 
lers, their  future  fellow- citizens  in  the  Better  Land ! 
Is  it  the  heavenly-minded  who  slight  or  slander 
those  with  whom  they  are  to  dwell  under  the  same 
roof,  with  whom  they  are  to  serve  and  to  sing  for- 
ever ? 

How  do  the  heavenly-minded  welcome  death, 
desiring  to  depart !  What  foretastes  do  they  often 
have,  as  they  approach  the  confines  of  Canaan  ! 
Land-birds,  of  beautiful  plumage,  greeted  Colum- 
bus days  before  his  eye  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
New  "World.  A  more  southern  voyager  found  him- 
self in  the  fresh  waters  of  the  Amazon  before  dis- 
covering the  continent  whence  they  came.  So,  at 
the  close  of  life's  voyage,  do  birds  of  Paradise  come 
hitherward,  careering  on  bright  wings,  and  the  river 
of  life  sends  its  refreshing  current  far  out  into  the 
briny  sea  of  this  world.  "  The  celestial  city,"  said 
Payson,  "  is  now  full  in  my  view.  Its  glories 
beam  upon  me, —  its  sounds  strike  upon  my  ears, 
and  its  spirit  is  breathed  into  my  heart.'' 

In   observing  the   transit  of  Venus   across  the 


CLUSTERS    OF    ESHCOL.  29 

sun's  disc,  Rittenhouse  was  so  Med  with  rapture 
that  he  fainted.  And,  as  the  glories  of  the  upper 
world,  the  unutterable  splendor  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,  attract  the  eye  of  the  beholder,  is  it 
strange  he  should  be  rapt  and  overwhelmed  ?  ''  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you."  Such  holy 
anticipations  turn  earth  into  Paradise. 

"  Thoughts  of  heaven  !  they  come  when  low 
The  summer  evening  breeze  doth  faintly  blow; 
When  the  mighty  sea  shines  clear,  unstirred 
By  the  wavering  tide  or  the  dipping  bird ; 
They  come  in  the  rush  of  the  raging  storm, 
When  the  blackening  waves  rear  their  giant  form, 
When  o'er  the  dark  rocks  curl  the  breakers  white, 
And  the  terrible  lightnings  rend  the  night ; 
When  the  noble  ship  hath  vainly  striven 
With  the  tempest's  might,  —  come  thoughts  of  heaven. 

They  come  where  man  doth  not  intrude, 
In  the  untracked  forest's  solitude ; 
In  the  stillness  of  the  gray  rocks'  height. 
Where  the  lonely  eagle  takes  its  flight ; 
On  peaks  where  lie  the  eternal  snows ; 
In  the  sun-bright  isle,  mid  its  rich  repose ; 
In  the  heathy  glen ;  by  the  dark,  clear  lake. 
When  the  fair  swan  sails  from  her  silent  brake , 
Where  nature  reigns  in  her  deepest  rest, 
Pure  thoughts  of  heaven  come  unrepressed.'* 
3* 


CHAPTER    III. 

WAYMARKS. 

When  once  we  close  our  eyes  in  death, 

And  flesh  and  spirit  sever  ; 
When  earth,  and  fatherland,  and  home, 
With  all  their  beauty,  sink  in  gloom. 

Say,  will  it  be  forever  ? 

^  Shall  we  in  heaven  no  more  review 

Those  scenes  from  which  we  sever  ? 
Or,  will  our  recollection  leap 
O'er  death's  dark  gulf,  at  times,  to  keep 

With  earth  acquaintance  ever  ? 

The  child  's  included  in  the  man, 

And  part  of  him  forever  ;  — 
The  Past  still  in  the  Future  lives, 
And  basis  to  its  being  gives, 

Not  it,  but  of  it  ever." 

For  what  is  earth  so  valuable  as  for  a  memento 
of  something  better?  What  use  shall  strangers 
and  pilgrims  make  of  it,  save  as  a  volume  from 
which  to  get  the  alphabet  of  celestial  science  ;  save 
as  a  rude  wharf,  from  which  they  embark  ;  a 
tottering  bridge,  over  which  they  pass  to  the  Bet- 
ter Land  ?     For  all  who  will  see  them,  there  Sre 


WAYMARKS.  31 

waymarks  along  the  road,  pointing  toward  Canaan. 
God  permits  us  to  gaze  on  mountain  and  plain,  river 
and  waterfall,  not  to  satisfy  us,  but  to  furnish  occa- 
sion for  praise,  and  to  quicken  our  desires  for  more 
satisfying  scenes.  Each  spot  on  earth  made  attract- 
ive to  the  Christian,  every  view  that  has  impressed 
him,  enter  in  among  the  fruitful  seeds  of  things 
which  are  to  grow  throughout  our  immortality. 
Viewed  in  a  spirit  of  adoring  love  to  the  great 
Creator  and  Kedeemer,  each  new  scene  becomes  a 
fresh  element  of  spiritual  expansion,  to  be  carried 
with  him  as  a  memorial,  the  occasion  of  a  new  song 
to  Him  who  is  seated  on  the  throne. 

The  mountains  are  remembrancers.  In  all  direc- 
tions they  lift  their  dark  or  hoary  heads,  singly,  or 
in  groups,  holding  many  a  reservoir  to  feed  the 
pure  perennial  springs,  that  like  living  hearts  send 
forth  the  very  life-blood  of  the  land,  and  embosom- 
ing many  a  lake  worthy  to  be  called  "  The  Smile  of 
the  Great  Spirit.''  They  look  like  sentinels  which 
the  Lord  of  hosts  has  set  on  duty  ;  their  deep 
gorges  avenues  to  the  palace  of  the  Great  King. 
When  morning  shines,  what  a  wealth  of  glory  is 
poured  over  thair  lofty  ridges,  and  down  their  sides  ! 
When  evening  shadows  settle  over  them,  you  may 
see  the  white   :louds  hovering  around  and  below 


32  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

their  summits,  as  if  in  search  of  a  quiet  lodging- 
place  ;  just  as  you  have  seen  doves  nestle  a  little 
this  way  and  that,  ruffling  their  wings,  and  carefuUy 
adjusting  themselves  for  a  night's  repose. 

Solemn,  majestic  remembrancers  !  ye  call  to  mind 
Mount  Moriah  and  Sinai,  Carmel  and  Lebanon, 
Tabor  and  Calvary,  and  the  fastnesses  amidst  which 
Waldenses  and  Covenanters  sang  praises  to  the  God 
of  their  salvation.  Most  comfortable  are  the  thoughts 
ye  awaken.  Ye  lift  our  thoughts  away  from  earth. 
We  think  how  the  everlasting  arm  is  underneath  the 
feeblest  saint  of  the  Most  High  :  yea,  that  He  who 
weigheth  the  mountains  in  scales  is  in  covenant  with 
his  people.  "As  the  mountains  are  round  about 
Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about  his  people 
from  henceforth,  even  forever.'' 

The  soul  of  man  needs  a  stronghold  whose  found- 
ations are  elsewhere  than  on  this  quaking  planet. 
When  these  mountains  shall  be  scattered,  and  these 
hiUs  bow,  we  shall  find  that  the  Rock  of  Ages  alone 
can  serve  for  a  hiding-place.  "I  will  say  of  the 
Lord  —  the  Lord  my  righteousness  —  he  is  my  rock, 
my  fortress,  my  deliverer  ;  in  him  will  I  trust." 

In  certain  districts  of  Switzerland,  where  primi- 
tive simplicity  still  lingers,  a  peasant  stations  him- 
self on  the  loftiest  peak,  and,  as  soon  as  the  sun  sets, 


WigrMABES.  33 

pours  from  his  Alpine  horn  the  notes  of  the  Psalm, 
"Praise  God  the  Lord!''  The  same  notes  are 
repeated  from  neighboring  summits,  and  all  within 
hearing,  with  uncovered  head  and  bended  knee,  join 
in  their  evening  worship.  Every  hill- top  and  moun- 
tain-peak that  our  eye  rests  upon  has  its  herald, 
sounding  forth  a  summons,  —  and  at  day-break, 
too,  yea  the  livelong  day,  —  "  Praise  ye  the  Lord  !  " 
*'  0,  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord ;  let  us  make 
a  joyful  noise  to  the  Eock  of  our  Salvation  ! " 

Yes,  those  towering  summits  are  waymarks,  carry- 
ing the  mind  of  the  pilgrim  upward  to  his  soul's  ever- 
lasting Munition  of  rocks — to  Him  who  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  No  one  less  venerable 
than  the  Ancient  of  Days,  less  mighty  than  the 
Creator,  less  compassionate  than  the  Lamb  that  was 
3lain,  less  condescending  and  august  than  God  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh,  will  suffice  for  our  guilty,  helpless 
souls.  Praise,  everlasting  praise  to  Christ  the  rock 
of  our  salvation ! 

The  plain  too  is  suggestive.  You  may  have  trav- 
ersed the  wilderness  of  the  West,  and  the  Grand 
Prairie,  stretching  beyond  it  a  thousand  miles  to  the 
Eocky  Mountains,  impressive  beyond  anything  of 
mountain  or  ocean  scenery  that  you  ever  gazed  upon 
before.    Only  the  glorious  firmament  above  surpasses 


34  THE  'better  land. 

it.  The  vistis  of  boundless  extent,  often  unbroken 
by  a  tree  or  other  object ;  and  then  the  same, 
varied  by  gentle  undulations,  rising  at  times  almost 
insensibly  into  mountains ;  now  an  outcropping 
ledge  of  sandstone  stretching  for  miles,  a  cyclopean 
wall ;  and  now  a  water-course,  marked  by  a  belt  of 
tree$  and  luxuriant  vines  ;  the  grass  everywhere  of 
the  freshest  green,  and  varied  only  by  parks  of 
lovely  wild  flowers  thousands  of  acres  in  extent, 
perfuming  the  whole  atmosphere  as  you  pass.  0, 
it  is  enchantment !  It  is  a  new  world.  It  is  as  if 
you  had  been  translated  to  another  planet,  where  the 
Creator  displays  a  peculiar  type  of  his  power  and 
wisdom.  Journeying  alone  day  after  day  in  that 
region,  meeting  scarcely  a  human  being  or  habita- 
tion,  you  do  not  feel  lonely.  There  is  a  solemnity 
which  renders  human  intercourse  well-nigh  an  an- 
noyance. "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,''  but  emi- 
nently that  vast  region,  where  man's  bustling 
industry  or  even  his  sinful  presence  is  hardly  known. 
Uninterrupted  sabbath  reigns.  It  is  a  magnificent 
area  which  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  has  prepared 
for  a  broad  camping-ground,  a  stupendous  temple, 
where  angels,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands,  might  congregate,  with 
ample  space  for  all  heavenly  occupations.      What 


WAYMARKS.  35 

reverent  mind,  amid  such  scenes,  would  not  ascend 
to  heaven  ? 

Recalled  to  the  half  unpleasant  reality  that  it  is  a 
part  of  our  common  earth,  you  find  it  difficult  to 
break  the  illusion  that  this  open  country  is  under 
cultivation, — that  it  is  the  royal  domain  of  some  great 
emperor,  —  that  these  are  his  limitless  parks,  —  that 
those  sloping  hill-sides  and  wide  intervals  between 
the  wooded  tracts  are  kept  for  regal  amusement  or 
display.  You  are  expecting  to  see  troops  of  labor- 
ers, and  presently  to  come  in  sight  of  a  crowded 
and  wealthy  metropolis  on  the  plains.  It  seems  as 
if  the  sun,  for  the  last  hour  of  his  course,  lingered 
on  his  way,  loath  to  close  his  eye  upon  so  glorious  a 
scene. 

But,  ''Thou  makest  darkness,  and  it  is  night, 
wherein  all  the  beasts  of  the  forests  do  creep  forth ; '' 
there  is  no  shelter,  no  sanctuary  there  ;  and  your 
heart,  surcharged  with  thoughts  of  the  eternity  and 
boundless  resources  of  Jehovah,  dilates  on  the  green 
fields,  delectable  groves,  and  river  of  life  above,  and 
the  mild  radiance  thrown  over  the  whole  prompts 
the  cry,  ''0,  send  out  thy  light  and  thy  truth  ;  let 
them  lead  me ;  let  them  bring  me  unto  thy  holy 
hill ! '' 

There  is  no  night  there.      So  glorious  is  that 


36  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

landscape  God  will  never  suffer  it  to  be  darkened. 
Saints  never  get  bewildered  or  lost  in  glory.  ''  No 
lion  shall  be  there,  nor  any  ravenous  beast  go  up 
thereon ;  it  shall  not  be  found  there ;  but  the 
redeemed  shall  walk  there." 

The  cavern  also  has  its  lesson.  The  tourist  enters 
one  of  the  more  extraordinary  of  those  subterranean 
regions.  He  gropes  from  room  to  room,  now  stoop- 
ing low  through  a  narrow  passage,  now  emerging 
into  a  vast  hall  with  lofty  arching  roof.  On  all 
sides  wreaths  of  crystal,  ample  folds  of  richest 
drapery,  statues  and  columns ;  here  a  sounding- 
board,  there  an  organ,  and,  beyond,  the  dim  arches 
of  an  interminable  cathedral.  It  would  seem  to  be 
the  old  Labyrinth,  or  the  Pantheon  ;  it  is  Hercula- 
neum  ;  it  is  a  mediaeval  cloister,  an  oriental  temple. 
Keaching  a  point  thousands  of  feet  from  the  entrance, 
with  a  roof  two  hundred  feet  in  thickness  overhead, 
he  sits  down  amidst  the  silent  solemnities  of  the 
place,  the  darkness  slightly  relieved  by  a  torch- 
light, and  the  strangely  profound  silence  unbroken 
save  by  here  and  there  a  drop  of  water  trickling 
from  the  cleavages  of  rocks  above.  Calcareous 
matter,  in  particles  almost  infinitely  small,  is  thus 
deposited.  Months,  years  pass  away,  and  only  a 
small  accumulation  has  taken  place  ;  yet,  thus  it  is. 


WAYMARKS.  37 

by  that  slow  drop,  drop,  drop,  those  numberless 
stalactites,  crystalline  sheets  and  pillars,  have  been 
formed.  The  thought  occurs,  so  is  it  in  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  soul ;  the  dews  of  divine  grace 
distil  gently,  and  in  those  silent  and  once  dreary 
recesses  there  come  into  being  forms  of  heavenly 
grace  and  beauty  —  all  the  garniture  of  a  temple  on 
high.  Earth  is  but  a  cavern  ;  yet  are  the  Lord's 
hidden  ones  in  process  of  preparation  for  their  use 
in  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  they  will  be  found  unto 
praise,  and  honor,  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Light  is  needed,  not  only  to  render  excel- 
lence apparent,  but  to  complete  the  full  meas- 
ure of  its  development.  In  the  dark  gorges  of  the 
Alps,  where  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  never  reach, 
there  is  among  the  Swiss  a  fearful  amount  of  idiocy. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  are  dumb,  or  blind,  or  deaf, 
and  not  a  few  labor  under  all  these  calamities  com- 
bined, while  nearly  all  are  misshapen  in  some  part 
of  their  body.  But  amidst  Mount  Zion  and  the 
high  hills  of  Heaven  are  no  deep  defiles,  or  caverns 
where  light  never  penetrates.  Pervading  every 
spot  equally,  is  an  atmosphere  perfectly  attempered, 
and  a  light  infinitely  benign,  under  whose  influence 
4 


38  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  fullest  anJ  most  harmonious  developments  will 
take  place. 

The  waterfall  has  a  voice  for  us.  We  find  our 
way  down  circuitously  to  the  base  of  Montmorenci. 
By  leaping  and  climbing,  we  approach  the  very 
edge  of  the  roaring  sheet,  and  there  stand  entranced 
by  the  flood  of  moving  beauty  and  grandeur.  On 
come  the  waters,  and  over  the  cliffs,  plunging  and 
foaming,  laughing  in  wildest  glee,  filling  the  air 
with  scattered  drops,  which  float  and  gleam  like 
diamonds  in  the  morning  light.  The  sun  seems  to 
gaze  with  us  in  wonder  at  the  scene.  Look  round 
upon  tlie  dark,  frowning  walls  of  rock,  and  lofty 
banks,  fringed  with  evergreen  trees,  —  silent  senti- 
nels, that  keep  watch  over  the  stupendous  chasm. 

Gaze  at  the  streaming  rainbows,  whose  liquid 
colors  seem  to  issue  from  the  living  fount  of  beauty 
itself.  Cast  your  eye  on  the  projecting  bed  of  earth, 
which  the  rush  of  waters  has  spared,  that  its  grass- 
plot  of  brilliant  green  may  smile,  the  summer  long, 
so  gladsomely,  in  the  face  of  Montmorenci,  this 
queen  of  cascades.  There  she  stands,  in  peerless 
beauty,  with  bridal  robe  and  wreath,  and  heaven's 
own  kiss,  on  that  forehead  changeless  and  serene. 

It  is  a  place  for  the  soul  to  dilate,  to  soar  on 
high,  lost  to  what  is  visible  in  the  vision  of  that 


WAYMARKS.  39 

which  is  unseen,  brighter  and  more  lovely  than 
those  things  which  are  seen. 

"After  this  I  looked,  and  behold,  a  door  was 
opened  in  heaven ;  and  the  j&rst  voice  which  I  heard 
was,  as  it  were,  of  a  trumpet  talking  with  me,  which 
said,  Come  up  hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  things 
which  must  be  hereafter.  And  immediately  I  was 
in  the  Spirit ;  and  behold,  a  throne  was  set  in 
heaven,  and  one  sat  on  the  throne.  And  he  that 
sat  was,  to  look  upon,  like  a  jasper  and  a  sardine 
stone;  and  there  was  a  rainbow  round  about  the 
throne,  in  sight  like  unto  an  emerald.  And  before 
the  throne  there  was  a  sea  of  glass  like  unto  crys- 
tal. And  the  four  and  twenty  elders  fall  down 
before  him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  and  worship 
him  that  liveth  forever  and  ever,  and  cast  their 
crowns  before  the  throne,  saying,  Thou  art  worthy, 
0  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honor,  and  power; 
for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure 
they  are  and  were  created.'' 

Yea,  enthroned  Redeemer,  this  waterfall  is  thine  ! 
this  globe  is  thine  :  thine  is  this  soul  of  mine,  with 
all  its  powers,  to  all  eternity !  Be  every  thought, 
every  desire,  centred  in  thee,  now  and  for  evermore ' 

0,  height  of  divine  love  !  0,  depth  of  Imman- 
ueFs  fathomless  love  !    •  0,  mystery  unspeakable  of 


40  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  a.tar  whereon  the  Lamb  of  God  made  expia- 
tion for  sin,  and  whence  the  smoke  of  that  all-satis- 
fying sacrifice  went  up  acceptably  before  the  throne ! 
Going  far  to  the  north,  we  will  visit  the  Saguenay. 
We  are  borne  along  a  stream,  broad,  dark,  and 
deep,  in  places  even  fathomless.  Lofty  mountains, 
rugged  and  precipitous,  form  its  shores.  No  mor- 
tal, not  even  the  Indian,  has  probably  ever  set  foot 
upon  them.  It  is  midnight  ;  and  the  moon  has 
gone  down  behind  a  dark  crest  of  the  bleak,  west- 
ern barrier.  We  move  onward,  amid  the  awful 
solitude,  till  we  approach  one  of  the  everlasting 
hills  which  has  stepped  down  to  the  stream,  and 
advanced  its  foot  into  the  water.  It  is  called 
''  Eternity  Point,''  —  a  rock,  rising  perpendicularly, 
with  its  majestic  front  of  fifteen  hundred  feet,  while 
the  line  finds  no  bottom  to  the  quiet  current  at  its 
base.  It  is  a  mountain  that  might  be  touched  as 
we  sail  by.  But  God  has  touched  the  hills,  and 
they  smoke.  "  The  Mount  is  altogether  on  a 
smoke,  because  the  Lord  descended  upon  it  in  fire, 
and  the  smoke  thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a 
furnace.''  Just  below,  and  far  down  the  stream, 
vast  tracts  are  in  a  blaze.  It  is  as  if  the  whole 
region  were  instinct  with  volcanic  forces,  and  just 
ready  to  burst  forth  in  overwhelming  terror.     You 


WAYMARKS.  41 

observe,  as  your  eye  looks  down  that  gloomy  vista, 
that  those  livid  flames  are  beyond  "Eternity  Point/' 

Ah,  traveller  !  whither  are  you  bound  ?  Nearing 
'*  Eternity  Point,"  the  raging  fires  below  in  full 
view,  what  think  you  of  life,  of  death  ?  The  hour 
is  coming  when  "the  heaven  shall  depart  as  a  scroll 
when  it  is  rolled  together,  and  every  mountain  and 
island  be  moved  out  of  their  places.  And  the 
kings  of  the  earth,  and  the  great  men,  and  the  rich 
men,  and  the  chief  captains,  and  the  mighty  men, 
and  every  bondman,  and  every  freeman,  shall  hide 
themselves  in  the  dens  and  in  the  rocks  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  shall  say  to  the  mountains  and  rocks. 
Fall  on  us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  Him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb ;  for  the  great  day  of  his  wrath  is  come ;  and 
who  shall  be  able  to  stand  ?  " 

Voyagers  on  the  swift  current  of  time,  what  is 
the  prospect  opening  before  us  as  we  round  Eter- 
nity Point  ?  When  our  bark  shall  have  shot  by 
that  solemn  bourn,  and  dense  darkness  have  veiled 
^ — impenetrably  veiled  —  you  and  me  from  the 
eyes  of  those  behind,  where  shall  we  be  ?  Ponder 
it,  ye  who  spend  your  years  as  a  tale  that  is  told, 
who  are  as  a  sleep  ;  ye  who,  in  this  night  of  time, 
floa/  listlessly  along  toward  the  last  beacon  between 
4* 


42  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

this  worlii  and  the  next,  ponder  it.  ''  The  wicked 
shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all  the  nations  that 
forget  God/' 

But  while  from  the  midst  of  that  fire  we  seem  to 
hear  many  a  one,  crying,  "  Have  mercy  on  me,  and 
send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of  his  finger 
in  water  and  cool  my  tongue,  for  I  am  tormented 
in  this  flame;''  in  one  direction  only  is  there  light 
and  peace,  —  it  is  in  the  blue  heavens  above.  The 
stars,  as  they  look  down  placidly  upon  us,  speak  of 
the  Better  Land.  They  remind  us  of  them  who 
"  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the  promises, 
but  having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  persuaded 
of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that 
they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  For 
they  that  say  such  things  declare  plainly  that  they 
seek  a  country.  And  truly,  if  they  had  been  mind- 
ful of  that  country  from  whence  they  came  out, 
they  might  have  had  opportunity  to  have  returned. 
But  now  they  desire  a  better  country,  that  is,  an 
heavenly;  wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  to  be 
called  their  God  ;  for  he  hath  prepared  for  them  a 
city." 

It  was  on  these  very  stars  that  Enoch,  Noah, 
Abraham  and  Jacob  gazed  ;  by  their  light  they 
were  guided  in  their  journeyings  and  sojournings, 


WAYMARKS.  43 

and  their  silent  suggestions  from  on  high  awakened 
earnest  and  holy  desires  after  another  country. 
Blessed  patriarchs !  "Ye  are  not  now  come  unto  the 
mount  that  might  be  touched,  and  that  burned  with 
fire,  nor  unto  blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest ; 
but  ye  are  come  unto  mount  Sion,  and  unto  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and 
to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,  which  are 
written  in  heaven,  and  to  God,  the  Judge  of  all, 
and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
to  Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to 
the  blood  of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things 
than  that  of  Abel/' 

"  There  is  a  happy  land, 

Far,  far  away, 
Where  saints  in  glory  stand, 

Bright,  bright  as  day. 
Hark,  how  they  sweetly  sing,  — 
Worthy  is  our  Saviour  King ; 
Loud  let  his  praises  ring : 

Praise,  praise  for  aye  ! 

Come  to  this  happy  land, 

Come,  come  away ! 
Why  will  you  doubting  stand, 

Why  thus  delay  ? 


44  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

On,  then,  to  glory  on  ! 
Be  a  crown  and  kingdom  won ; 
Then,  bright  above  the  sun, 
We  '11  reign  for  aye !  " 

We  embark  on  another  stream, — let  it  be  the 
St.  Lawrence,  —  near  its  head,  and  move  down- 
ward with  the  mighty  current  of  a  river  ample 
enough  for  the  highway  of  nations,  draining  an 
area  of  half  a  million  of  square  miles,  and  the  out- 
let of  more  than  half  the  fresh  water  of  the  globe. 
We  sweep  by  now  a  solitary  island,  sitting  swan- 
like on  the  flood,  and  now  by  a  cluster  of  the  same. 
Anon  the  river  spreads  into  a  broad  lake,  and  then 
is  compressed  again  between  its  rocky  shores.  We 
are  nearing  the  rapids.  The  bosom  of  the  river 
heaves  and  eddies  as  if  leviathan  had  grown  angry, 
and  were  causing  it  to  boil  like  a  pot.  And  now 
we  are  swept  into  the  midst  of  perils  of  waters 
where  all  is  wild  confusion  and  foam,  the  rocks  on 
either  side  threatening  instant  destruction  to  the 
vessel,  which  plunges  and  writhes  as  if  the  fatal 
collision  had  already  taken  place.  The  stoutest 
hold  their  breath,  and  glance  alternately  at  the 
arrowy  flood  and  at  the  wheel,  where  four  sinewy 
steersmen  put  forth  their  strength,  and  the  keen, 
steady  eye  of  the  chief  pilot  re  assures,  the  hearts 
of  trembling  passengers. 


WAYMARKS.  45 

It  is  one  of  life's  passages  that  we  have  thus 
made.  Often  is  the  soul  in  straits,  where  the  cur- 
rent whirls  and  tosses,  and  there  is  a  sharp  rock  on 
one  side,  and  a  sharp  rock  on  the  other,  and  it 
seems  as  if  wreck  were  unavoidable.  But  "my 
Father  is  at  the  helm."  With  a  high  hand  and 
an  outstretched  arm  does  he  guide  his  children. 
"  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present 
help  in  trouble.  Therefore  will  not  we  fear,  though 
the  earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  mountains 
be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea ;  though  the 
waters  thereof  roar  and  be  troubled,  though  the 
mountains  shake  with  the  swelling  thereof." 

On  we  go,  and  still  on,  day  after  day,  along  that 
broad  mirror,  of  six  hundred  miles'  length,  that  re- 
duplicates from  its  clear  surface  populous  city,  and 
village,  and  smiling  farm-house,  trees  and  clouds, 
and  the  ever- varying  forms  of  grandeur  in  the  bold 
ranges  that  define  its  borders.  But  the  river  meets 
the  sea,  and  is  lost.  And  is  its  meaning  lost  ? 
Shall  its  significancy  as  a  symbol  be  unheeded  '' 
Who  does  not  see  in  it  time  swallowed  up  in  eter- 
nity ?  life  with  its  depths  and  shallows,  its  eddies 
and  rapids,  its  broad  quiet  bosom  and  its  rushing 
narrows,  its  bright  hues  and  dark  vapors,  its  cur 
rent  urging  still  on  to  the  great  ocean  ? 


46  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

•  A  solemn  thing  this  life -excursion,  —  once  made 
forever !  It  is  something  to  move  the  soul's  lowest 
depths  to  look  out  on  the  boundless  expanse  beyond, 
and  feel  the  vast  swells,  and  catch  the  solemn  sounds 
of  eternity  ;  and  happy  he,  who,  in  sailing  down  the 
stream,  has  an  eye  to  behold  the  sweet  fields  beyond, 
who  maintains  calmness  amid  the  swelling  of  Jor- 
dan ;  yea,  whose  peace  Grod  maketh  like  a  river ! 
What  believing  pilgrim  can  keep  his  thoughts  away 
from  a  better  land,  that  is,  an  heavenly  ?  "  There 
is  a  river,  the  streams  whereof  shall  make  glad  the 
city  of  God,  the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacles  of 
the  Most  High.  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her ;  she 
shall  not  be  moved.'' 

"  Look  upon  Zion,  the  city  of  our  solemnities : 
thine  eyes  shall  see  Jerusalem  a  quiet  habitation,  a 
tabernacle  that  shall  not  be  taken  down  ;  not  one  of 
the  stakes  thereof  shall  ever  be  removed,  neither 
shall  any  of  the  cords  thereof  be  broken.  But 
there  the  glorious  Lord  will  be  unto  us  a  place 
of  broad  rivers  and  streams ;  wherein  shall  go  no 
galley  with  oars,  neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass 
thereby." 

But  you  have  reached  the  sea,  that  fearful  .^xpanse, 
the  highway  of  the  Almighty.  ''  His  path  is  in  the 
great  deep  ;  his  pavilion  round  about  him  are  dark 


WAYMARKS.  47 

waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  sky.''  And  as  you 
have  sailed  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week, 
witnessing  the  wonders  of  God,  when  the  awful 
anthem  of  the  storm  was  the  only  music  that  greet- 
ed you  ;  when  you  were  tossed  about,  a  thing  of 
utter  helplessness ;  when  neither  sun  nor  stars  in 
many  days  appeared,  and  no  small  tempest  lay  on 
you ;  then  you  opened  the  Apocalypse,  and  read 
with  a  delight  not  to  be  described  •  *'  I  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth ;  for  the  first  heaven  and 
the  first  earth  were  passed  away  ;  and  there  was  no 
more  sea."  You  read  again  and  again,  with  height- 
ening appreciation  of  its  meaning  :  ''  No  more  sea ; 
no  more  sea." 

Your  voyage  is  to  the  tropics.  You  visit  the 
island  toward  which  this  country  turns  such  a  covet- 
ous eye.  New  forms  of  exuberant  vegetation,  the 
perennial  verdure  of  foliage,  the  spontaneous  pro- 
fusion of  fruits,  the  fragrance  of  orangeries  and 
coffee  plantations,  the  feathery  bamboo  and  banana, 
and  the  stately  classic  palm,  supply  unlocked  for 
types  of  beauty,  enhanced  by  an  atmosphere  of  sin- 
gular serenity,  and  a  sky  of  the  softest  blue.  There, 
too,  the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength  ;  '*  there  is  nothing 
hid  from  the  heat  thereof ;  he  rejoiceth  as  a  strong 
man  to  run  a  race  :  " 


48  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

"  Not,  as  in  northern  climes,  obscurely  bright, 
But  one  unclouded  blaze  of  living  light." 

Evening  comes  on,  and  you  not  only  behold 
familiar  stars,  but  the  brilliant  constellations  of  the 
southern  firmament  look  down  upon  you.  Individual 
stars  of  eminent  beauty,  —  Achener,  Canopus, 
Maia  Placida,  the  star  of  first  magnitude  nearest 
the  south  pole,  and  the  two  of  similar  rank  in  Cen- 
taur, —  rise  up  to  view.  But  chiefly  are  you  delighted 
as  the  Southern  Cross  presents  itself  in  all  its  mild 
yet  impressive  glory.  You  find  special  occasion 
for  wonder  and  praise.  You  would  fain  walk  to  the 
house  of  God,  in  company  with  them  that  keep  holy 
time  ;  but,  alas  !  where  will  you  find  such  ?  The 
Lord's  day  is  not  known  :  the  mummeries  of  super- 
stition, baptized  or  unbaptized,  are  not  the  worship 
of  God.  All  the  abominations  of  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  obtrude  upon  your  eye ;  and,  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  that  is  outwardly  fair,  you  shed 
bitter  tears  over  the  blight  of  sin  :  you  are  at  once 
drawn  and  driven  to  contemplate  those  regions  never 
visited  by  the  curse. 

Who  will  not  bless  God,  that  he  has  given  us  eyes 
to  see  ?  —  that  at  every  turn  there  open  to  view  scenes 
suited  to  enlarge  the  mind,  and  elevate  the  soul  ? 
—  hill,  stream,  grove,  city,  cottage,  or  sweet  flower, 


WAYMARKS.  49 

smiling  in  every  nook  and  cleft  of  this  rough  world. 
Does  not  all  direct  your  thoughts  upward,  with  ar- 
dent longing  for  its  holy  rest  ?  If  such  be  earth  — 
smitten,  shattered  earth  —  what  must  heaven  be  ? 
When  earth  and  all  the  works  that  are  therein  shall 
be  burned  up,  there  will  be  a  new  heaven  and  new 
earth  unspeakably  more  glorious  than  the  present,  in 
the  sanctified  recollection  of  saints  on  high. 
5 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

GLIMPSES    OF    THE    LAND. 

The  soul's  dark  cottage,  battered  and  decayed, 
Lets  in  new  light  through  chinks  that  time  has  made 
Stronger  by  weakness,  wiser  men  become, 
As  they  draw  near  to  their  eternal  home. 
Leaving  the  old,  both  worlds  at  once  they  view, 
That  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  new. 

Waller. 

"It  is  the  most  beautiful  island  that  eyes  ever  beheld."  "  As  I 
arrived  at  this  cape,  there  came  a  fragrance  so  good  and  soft  of  the 
flowers  and  trees  of  the  land,  that  it  was  the  sweetest  thing  in  tho 
world."  "  The  singing  of  the  birds  is  such,  that/^  seems  as  if  one 
would  never  desire  to  depart  hence." 

Columbus. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment we  have  only  one  account  of  a  saint's  depart- 
ure to  the  Better  Land.  One  reason,  doubtless,  is 
that  attention  may  not  be  unduly  turned  to  the 
closing  scene  ;  that  a  natural  curiosity  of  that  kind 
need  not  become  excessive  and  profitless.  The  cir- 
cumstances and  feelings  of  a  man  in  the  hour  of 
death  merely  are  not  of  the  greatest  moment.  It 
is  to  Christ's  death  and  the  Christian's  life  that  the 


GLIMPSES.  51 

word  of  God  gives  special  prominence.  One  in- 
stance of  dying  repentance  is  given,  that  of  the 
crucified  thief,  in  order  that  no  one  may  presume  or 
despair ;  one  instance  of  the  experience  of  a  de- 
parting Christian  is  supplied,  to  teach  believers  how 
to  die.  "  He,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked 
up  steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of 
God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  said :  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and 
the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 
This  vision  was  not  addressed  to  the  outward  eye  so 
much  as  to  the  eye  of  the  soul ;  it  was  a  parting  of 
the  veil,  which  up  to  that  moment  had  hidden  the 
world  of  glory  from  his  view.  Hitherto  he  had 
walked  by  faith ;  now  there  was  a  partial  vision, 
spiritual  vision  of  that  world  into  which  he  was  soon 
to  enter,  —  a  preparatory  glance,  foretokening  what 
his  disembodied  spirit  was  about  to  enjoy  fully  and 
forever.  Such  discoveries  are  not  appropriate  at 
earlier  periods ;  they  are  not  compatible  with  the 
design  of  discipline,  except  near  its  close.  It  is,  in 
the  divine  appointment,  more  a  matter  of  epoch 
than  of  bodily  condition.  The  martyr  Stephen 
was  in  full  possession  of  his  powers.  Violent  hands 
had  not  yet  been  laid  upon  him  when  he  saw  the 
heavens  opened.  He  was  neither  under  the  influence 


52  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

of  disease  nor  of  drugs ;  nor  does  there  appear  to 
have  been  the  slightest  degree  of  unhealthy  mental 
excitement.  If  ever  complete  self-control  and  calm- 
ness were  exhibited  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  tu- 
mult, they  v^ere  by  the  protomartyr.  Dissolution 
had  not  commenced  when  his  inward  eye  began  to 
gaze  on  the  glories  of  the  other  world.  The  silver 
cord  was  not  loosed,  nor  the  golden  bowl  broken, 
for  the  first  stone  had  not  yet  been  thrown.  Still  he 
was  on  the  very  eve  of  departure.  It  was  not  mar- 
tyrdom, nor  was  it  perhaps  miraculous  inspiration, 
that  so  clarified  his  mental  eye.  Often  is  there 
something  analogous  in  the  later  experiences  of 
God's  people,  though  more  usually  when  the  process 
of  dislodgment  has  actually  commenced  ;  when  the 
first  steps  at  least  have  been  taken  into  the  waters 
of  Jordan. 

"  I  have  been,''  said  one  of  England's  and  one 
of  Christ's  choicest  ministers,  Walker  of  Truro,  *'I 
have  been  upon  the  wings  of  cherubim !  Heaven 
has  in  a  manner  been  opened  to  me  !  I  shall  soon 
be  there!"  And  again:  "0,  my  friend,  had  I 
strength  to  speak,  I  could  tell  you  such  news  as 
would  rejoice  your  very  soul !  I  have  had  such 
views  of  heaven  !  But  I  am  not  able  to  say  more." 
The    jubilant  testimony   of   John  Janeway   was : 


GLIMPSES.  53 

"  Metliinks  I  stand,  as  it  were,  with  one  foot  in 
heaven,  and  the  other  upon  earth.  Methinks  I 
hear  the  melody  of  heaven,  and,  by  faith,  see  the 
angels  waiting  to  carry  my  soul  to  the  bosom  of 
Jesus,  and  I  shall  be  forever  with  the  Lord  in 
glory.  And  who  can  choose  but  rejoice  in  all 
this  ? " 

And,  in  cases  where  dissolution  was  at  hand, 
and  the  power  of  speech  had  failed,  more  than 
once  have  we  seen  a  preconcerted  signal  given,  — 
pressure  of  the  hand  and  the  like,  —  as  the  depart- 
ing believer  seemed  to  behold  the  heavens  opened ; 
and  the  face,  pallid  and  distressed,  has  appeared 
*'  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel.'*  That  last 
lingering  smile  was  a  reflection  of  His  smile  who 
stands  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

Often,  too,  we  doubt  not,  is  the  apparent  confu- 
sion and  incoherency  of  a  Christian's  death-bed 
simply  the  blending  of  impressions  derived  from  the 
other  side  with  those  derived  from  this ;  for  the 
soul  seems  to  pass  almost  unconscious  of  the  mo- 
ment of  a  transit,  and  probably  does  not  take 
note  of  the  exact  line  of  demarcation  between  two 
worlds.  Often  does  the  spirit  seem  to  cross,  and 
then  retrace  her  steps  along  the  neutral  ground ;  or 
return  briefly  to  her  tabernacle,  as  you  may  yourself, 
6* 


% 


54  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

when  going  from  home  you  hasten  back  to  leave  a 
message,  or  take  one  look  more  ;  or,  as  the  travel- 
ler ascending  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  into  the  clear 
upper  regions,  may  sometimes  discern  the  plains 
beneath  thrDugh  a  momentary  rent  in  the  clouds. 

"  Stephen,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked 
up  steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of 
God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  said,  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and 
the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 
Whoever,  like  him,  is  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
full  of  heaven,  cannot  be  otherwise  than  full  of 
Jesus  Christ.  And  what  can  be  more  fitting  than 
that  the  believer,  who  has  been  sprinkled  with 
Christ's  blood,  clothed  with  Christ's  righteousness, 
over  whom  Christ  has  watched,  and  for  whom  he 
has  interceded,  who  has  been  feeding  upon  Christ 
as  the  true  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven, 
who  has  been  communing  with  him  by  the  Avay, 
should  now,  at  the  close  of  his  journey,  have  a 
clearer  discovery  of  him,  whom  not  having  seen 
he  has  loved  ?  All  their  intelligent  aspirations 
after  heaven,  all  scriptural  hopes  of  admission  there, 
have  had  respect  to  him  who  is  the  everlasting 
glory  of  that  abode.  The  New  Testament  knows 
nothing  ?  f  a  paradise  in  which  he  is  not  the  central 


GLIMPSES.  55 

object  and  all- attractive  charm.  Every  conception 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  dissociated  from  Jesus 
Christ,  every  anticipation  which  has  its  origin  and 
end  elsewhere  than  in  the  allegiance  of  faith  and 
love  to  him  who,  as  Son  of  God,  and  Son  of  man, 
is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  majesty  in  the 
heavens,  is  spurious  and  delusive.  He  it  is  who 
opens  heaven,  and  from  whom  beams  the  light 
thereof.  Who  else,  then,  should  attract  all  eyes 
and  all  hearts  ?  "I  had  a  sight  of  heaven,"  said 
a  dying  countrywoman  of  ours  to  her  pastor  ;  '*  I 
had  a  sight  of  home,  and  I  saw  my  Saviour !  " 

A  friend  called  to  tell  Dr.  Owen  that  he  had 
put  to  press  his  "  Meditations  on  the  Glory  of 
Christ.'*  There  was  a  momentary  gleam  in  his  lan- 
guid eye  as  he  answered,  ''  I  am  glad  to  hear  it ; 
but  0,  brother  Paine  !  the  long  wished-for  day  is 
come  at  last,  in  which  I  shall  see  that  glory  in 
another  manner  than  I  have  ever  done,  or  was 
capable  of  doing,  in  this  world.''  A  few  hours  of 
silence  followed,  and  then  that  glory  was  to  him 
revealed.  Another,  whose  anticipations  of  heaven 
have  been  already  cited  in  part,  as  he  was  drawing 
still  nearer  Canaan,  exclaimed :  "  More  praises  yet ; 
0,  help  me  to  praise  God ;  I  have  now  nothing  else 
to  do !     I  have  done  with  prayer,  and  all  other  or- 


56  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

dinances  ;  I  have  almost  done  with  conversing  with 
mortals.  I  shall  presently  behold  Christ  himself, 
that  died  for  me,  and  loved  me,  and  washed  me  in 
his  own  blood.  I  shall,  before  a  few  hours  are  over, 
be  in  eternity,  singing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the 
song  of  the  Lamb.  I  shall  presently  stand  on 
Mount  Zion,  with  an  innumerable  company  of 
angels,  and  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  with  Jesus,  the  mediator  of  the  New  Covenant ; 
I  shall  hear  the  voice  of  much  people,  and  be  one 
amongst  them,  which  shall  say.  Hallelujah,  glory, 
salvation,  honor  and  power,  unto  the  Lord  our 
God  ;  and  again  we  shall  say.  Hallelujah." 

Stephen  saw  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of 
God ;  not  sitting,  not  in  the  attitude  of  judge,  but 
of  helper  and  friend,  risen  to  succor  and  welcome 
his  approaching  servant.  He  knew  in  whom  he 
had  believed.  His  confidence  and  fearlessness  were 
not  those  of  the  soldier,  rushing  into  battle,  nor  of 
the  malefactor,  under  the  influence  of  anodynes, 
or  sunk  in  moral  stupefaction.  His  is  something 
more  than  absence  of  dread,  for  that  does  not  prove 
a  person  to  be  even  rational.  His  is  a  living  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  ''Just  One,''  the  Lord  his 
righteousness,  who  had  abolished  death,  so  that  to 
him  it  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.    He  has  believed 


GLIMPSES.  57 

before  ;  now  he  sees  Him  who  is  the  faithful  and 
true  witness,  and  he  cannot  do  otherwise  than  yield 
up  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  Him  who  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  is  committed  unto  him.  Hence 
his  direct,  unhesitating  prayer  :  ''  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit.'*  Thanks  for  that  model  prayer 
of  a  *departing  saint !  May  it  be  the  last  that  the 
writer  and  reader  shall  breathe,  when  we  are  called 
to  follow  ! 

"  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit !  "  How  many 
thousands,  martyrs  and  others,  have  already  breathed 
their  last,  uttering  this  prayer  !  It  would  seem  as 
if  that  leader  of  the  Christian  host,  in  their  jour- 
ney to  the  Better  Land,  were  moved  to  this  brief 
ejaculation  that  he  might  supply  the  most  appro- 
priate formula  for  every  dying  believer.  ''  Lord 
Jesus,  have  mercy  on  me  !  Lord  Jesus,  have  mercy 
on  me  !  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit!'*  prayed 
Bishop  Hooper,  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  And 
on  the  same  fiery  couch,  and  in  the  same  strain, 
prayed  Latimer,  Patrick  Hamilton,  and  Rowland 
Taylor.  With  the  penitent  exclamation,  ''  This 
unworthy  right  hand  !  this  unworthy  right  hand  !  '* 
Cranmer  intermingled  the  believing  cry,  ''Lord 
Jesus  receive  my  spirit!'*  Woman  too,  gentle, 
constant,  trusting  woman,  has  sent  up  the  same,  in 


58  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  hcur  of  martyrdom.  It  was  Margaret  Wilson, 
in  the  reign  of  King  James,  whom  the  Papists  took 
down  to  the  Bay  of  Wigton,  at  low  water,  and 
bound  to  a  stake,  there  to  await  the  advancing 
tide.  The  waters  come  slowly  in,  closing  round 
her,  and  rising  higher  and  higher.  They  reach  her 
throat ;  but  that  young  martyr  of  eighteen  still 
sings,  with  a  loud,  clear  voice,  the  twenty-third 
Psalm.  Her  mouth  fills  ;  she  gurgles  forth,  "  Lord 
Jesus,  receive  my  spirit ! ''  and  goes  to  sleep  beneath 
the  tide.  But  this  has  not  been  used  by  those 
alone  who  have  witnessed  for  Jesus  with  their 
blood.  The  venerable  bishop  and  reformer,  Jewell, 
prayed,  "Lord,  take  from  me  my  spirit.  Lord, 
now  let  thy  servant  depart  in  peace.  Break  off  all 
delays  ;  suffer  thy  servant  to  come  to  thee  ;  come 
and  take  him  to  be  with  thee,  —  Lord,  receive  my 
spirit !  "  And  by  many  another  has  that  brief 
petition  been  offered,  —  by  the  consumptive,  as  his 
breath  slowly  failed,  and  all  utterance  ceased, — 
by  the  prisoner  expiring  in  his  cell,  and  by  the 
voyager,  sinking  in  the  waves. 

*'  Saviour,  into  thy  loving  hands 
My  feeble  spirit  I  commit, 
While  wandering  in  these  Border-Lands 
Until  thy  voice  shall  summon  it. 


GLIMPSES.  59 

These  Border-Lands  are  calm  and  still, 

And  solemn  are  their  silent  shades ; 
And  my  heart  welcomes  them,  until 

The  light  of  life's  long  evening  fades. 

I  heard  them  spoken  of  with  dread. 

As  fearful  and  unquiet  places ; 
Shades  where  the  living  and  the  dead 

Look  sadly  in  each  other's  faces. 

But  since  Thy  hand  hath  led  me  here. 

And  I  have  seen  the  Border-Land; 
Seen  the  dark  river  flowing  near, 

Stood  on  its  brink,  as  now  I  stand,  — 

There  has  been  nothing  to  alarm 

My  trembling  soul ;  how  could  I  fear 

While  thus  encircled  with  thine  arm  ? 
I  never  felt  thee  half  so  near." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    PASSAGE. 

The  heir  of  heaven,  henceforth  I  fear  not  death  , 
In  Christ  I  live  ;  in  Christ  I  draw  the  breath 
Of  the  true  life ;  — let,  then,  earth,  sea  and  sky, 
Make  vyar  against  me  !     On  my  heart  I  show 
Their  mighty  Master's  seal.     In  vain  they  try 
To  end  my  life,  that  can  but  end  its  woe. 
Is  that  a  death-bed  where  a  Christian  lies  ? 
Yes !  but  not  his —  't  is  Death  himself  there  dies ! 

Coleridge. 

The  expiring  believer  does  not  see  death :  he 
sees  the  heavens  opened,  and  Jesus  Christ  standing 
at  the  right  hand  of  God.  It  is  no  dark  valley 
through  which  he  passes,  but  he  moves  along  the 
highway  of  the  Lord,  to  the  palace  of  the  great  King. 
He  escapes  out  of  this  Golgotha  into  the  only  true 
land  of  the  living.  Stephen  was  not  vanquished 
on  the  j&eld  of  martyrdom ;  he  came  off  victor  over 
enemies,  human  and  Satanic ;  yea,  he  was  more 
than  conqueror ;  cast  out  of  the  city,  he  ascended 
to  heaven.  Amidst  the  shouts  of  an  infuriated 
mob,  and  a  shower  of  stones,  "  He  fell  asleep.*' 


THE    PASSAGE.  61 

None  of  these  things  move  him,  neither  counteth 
he  his  life  dear  unto  him.  He  is  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  so  is  full  of  joy  and  peace.  He  was 
not  killed  ;  he  has  only  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus  ; 

"  Like  one  who  draws  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

Never  did  evening  shadows  lengthen  more  quietly, 
nor  the  dews  come  down  more  benignly,  than  he, 
than  every  true  believer,  sinks  to  rest.  "He  is  not 
dead,  but  sleepeth.''  ''  They  which  sleep  in  Christ 
are  not  perished.''  They  live  ;  they  live  in  him, 
and  with  him,  —  a  life  higher,  holier  far  than  this. 
The  protomartyr,  now  opening  his  eyes  as  never 
before  on  the  glory  of  God,  and  on  the  Son  of  Man 
standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  can  say,  "I 
laid  me  down  and  slept ;  I  awaked,  for  the  Lord 
sustained  me."  The  French  Assembly  ipay  vote 
''  Death  an  eternal  sleep  ;"  the  atheist  Mirabeau, 
when  speech  fails,  may  spend  his  last  strength  in 
writing,  "  Death  is  but  a  sleep  ;"  the  atheist  Dan- 
ton  may  play  off  his  horrid  levity  on  the  scaffold  — 
"Let  me  go  to  sleep  ;"  but  that  is  to  fall  asleep 
in  sin,  sorrow,  wrath  ,  it  is  to  fall  into  cuter  dark- 
ness, "  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire 
is  not  quenched." 

6  • 


62  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Stephen,  in  holy  calmness,  in  the  quiet  sublimity 
of  a  triumphant  faith,  prays  for  himself — "Lord 
Jesus,  receive  my  spirit  ;*'  prays  for  his  murderers, 
*'  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge;''  bids  earth 
good-night,  and  sinks  into  the  repose  of  heaven. 
"  So  he  giveth  his  beloved  sleep.''  In  the  hour  of 
dissolution,  every  saint  in  Christ  Jesus,  whether 
sinking  under  a  shower  of  stones,  or  the  assaults  of 
disease,  hears  a  voice  saying,  "  Come  up  hither  !  " 
Before  escaping  from  this  prison,  light  begins  to 
break  in.  Gleams  from  the  sunshine  of  everlasting 
glory  find  their  way  to  his  cell. 

"  0  what  joy  !  "  exclaimed  Dr.  Gordon.  "  Peo- 
ple have  said  that  death  is  frightful.  I  look  on  it 
with  pleasure.  I  see  no  monsters  around  me. 
Death  !  I  see  no  death  at  my  bedside.  It  is  that 
benign  Saviour  waiting  to  take  me.  I  could  not 
have  a  fear.  This  is  not  the  testimony  of  one  who 
has  nothing  to  live  for.  I  am  in  the  prime  of  life, 
with  comforts  and  friends  around  me.  But  the 
prospect  of  heaven  is  more  than  all."  *'  I  fear  I 
am  sinfully  impatient  in  so  longing  after  heaven ; 
but  it  is  so  glorious  !  Christ,  not  death,  is  about 
to  take  me  from  earth.  There  is  no  death  to  the 
Christian.  That  glorious  gospel  takes  away  death." 
^uch  a  departure  is  mors  sine  morte, — a  dying  with- 


THE    PASSAGE.  63 

out  death;  it  is  the  believer's  birth-day  of  eternity, 
—  his  last,  best  birth- day,  his  birth  into  glory  un- 
utterable and  unending. 

The  saint,  no  less  than  the  sinner,  must  depart  this 
life.  Of  all  the  millions  who  have  yet  lived,  two  only 
have  been  translated ;  and,  in  time  to  come,  those 
only  who  are  alive  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  shall 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  be  changed,  without 
tasting  death ;  but  the  law  is  —  and  these  excep- 
tions are  hardly  to  be  named  —  that  all  must  die. 
The  most  eminent  saints,  the  men  and  women  after 
God's  own  heart ;  the  beloved  disciple,  —  the  one 
just  referred  to,  —  who,  on  the  eve  of  departure, 
saw  the  heavens  open  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing 
on  the  right  hand  of  God ;  and  he  who,  years  before 
decease,  was  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,  have 
alike  been  obliged  to  pass  through  the  same  door 
into  the  unseen  world.  It  was  revealed  unto  ven- 
erable Simeon  that  he  should  not  see  death  before 
he  had  seen  the  Lord's  Christ ;  but  the  sight  of 
him  who  is  a  hght  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
glory  of  Israel,  made  it  no  less  necessary  for  him 
to  behold  the  King  of  Terrors. 

That  is  the  epoch  of  dissolution  when  soul  and 
body  part  company  till  the  resurrection.  The  sub- 
stance of  the  soul  suffers  no  harm,  and  its  con- 


84  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

sciousness  no  abatement,  by  that  change.  *'Then 
shall  the  dust  return  unto  the  earth  as  it  was,  and 
the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who  gave  it." 
*'  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  beggar  died,  and 
was  carried  by  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom." 
Paul  speaks  of  death  as  the  hour  of  his  departure, 
and  departure  to  be  with  Christ.  The  believer's 
soul  is  then  disembodied,  not  destroyed,  not  con- 
signed to  sleep,  but  sent  forth,  active  and  immortal. 
His  tent  is  struck  for  the  last  time,  and  he  passes 
over  Jordan.  The  ship  goes  to  pieces,  but  the  pas- 
senger is  safe.  The  believer  may  one  moment  be 
in  the  agonies  of  dissolution,  the  next  reposing 
calmly  in  Abraham's  bosom. 

Many  tribes  of  men  have  imagined  that  for  a  long 
time,  if  not  forever,  souls  linger  about  the  bodies 
or  the  dwellings  they  formerly  occupied.  The  be- 
lief has  been  very  extensive,  that  they  assume  a 
shadowy  but  visible  form,  and  thus  present  them- 
selves as  spectres.  Even  a  Christian  council,  in 
the  fourth  century,  forbade  to  kindle  a  light  in 
burial  places,  that  the  spirits  of  departed  saints 
might  not  be  disturbed.  But  the  souls  of  believers 
do  immediately  pass  into  glory.  They  go  not  first 
into  a  middle  world,  —  neither  heaven,  nor  hell,  —  a 
purgatory,  where,  as  Romanists  imagine,  their  souls 


THE    PASSAGE.  65 

are  cleansed  by  fire.  The  Council  of  Trent  decreed, 
"If  any  man  shall  say  that  after  justification  the 
fjLult  is  so  blotted  out  that  there  remains  no  guilt  of 
temporal  punishment,  to  be  endured  in  this  life,  or 
in  the  future  life  of  purgatory,  before  the  soul  can 
be  admitted  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  let  him 
be  accursed.' '  But  Christ  said  to  the  penitent 
thief,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise  ;*' 
and  thus  our  Lord  himself  comes  under  the  anath- 
ema of  the  Man  of  Sin,  exalting  himself  above  all 
that  is  called  God. 

Not  a  shadow  of  support  does  that  dogma  of 
purgatory  find  in  the  word  of  God.  It  has  been 
built  up  by  fancy  alone,  aided  by  popular  heathen 
notions  concerning  a  land  of  shades,  where  souls 
are  stretched  out  in  the  wind,  or  thrust  into  water 
or  fire,  for  purification.  Thence  comes  this  Limbus 
Patrum,  with  prayers  and  masses  for  the  dead. 

The  ♦souls  of  believers  do  immediately  pass,  not 
into  purgatory,  not  into  other  bodies  by  transmi- 
gration, not  into  a  long  lethargy,  not  into  annihi 
lation,  nor  into  any  other  state  which  paganism  has 
conjured  up,  but  into  glory.     They  pass  into  a  glo 
rious  world,  —  a  glorious  city,  where  is  a  glorious 
temple ;  where  is  none  but  the  most  exalted  society, 
holy  angels,  and  glorified  saints,  where  their  occupa 
6=^ 


66  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

tions  and  the  songs  are  most  ennobling,  none  being 
lower  than  glory  to  God  in  the  highest.  They  are 
made  kings  and  priests  unto  God ;  the  palm-branch 
is  put  into  their  hands ;  the  crowns  of  glory  are 
placed  upon  their  heads. 

But  who  are  received  to  that  abode  ?  There 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth : 
it  is  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  that 
they  are  come  ;  they  are  clothed  with  white  linen, 
which  is  the  righteousness  of  saints.  Immediately 
upon  entrance  there  they  find  their  character  per- 
fectly congenial  to  the  holy  occupations  and  society 
of  the  place.  They  are  unabashed  in  the  presence 
of  unfallen  angels  and  the  most  patriarchal  saints 
in  glory.  How  this  is  effected,  except  in  general 
through  the  grace  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  do 
not  undertake  to  say,  any  more  than  how  it  is  that 
the  first  spiritual  change  is  wrought,  which  quick- 
ens a  soul  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  into*  a  vital 
union  with  God.  Subjectively,  the  change  must, 
if  possible,  be  greater  than  that  of  regeneration. 
In  the  latter  there  is  a  change  of  relation,  in  which 
the  sinner,  from  being  condemned,  becomes  a  justi- 
fied son  of  God,  once  for  all,  and  forever. 

It  need  not,  therefore,  be  repeated  at  death. 
But  great  as  is  the  transition  from  utter  spiritual 


THE    PASSAGE.  67 

death  to  the  first  movings  of  life,  great  as  may  be 
the  growth  of  grace  thenceforward  to  the  end  of 
probation,  there  remains  a  change,  scarcely  if  at  all 
less  in  degree,  when  the  state  of  partial  sanctifica- 
tion  gives  place  to  perpetual  holiness.  Up  to  the 
measure  of  capacity,  holiness  becomes  complete  in 
the  soul  of  a  believer  passing  into  glory.  A  child 
may,  without  change  of  symmetry,  increase  in 
stature ;  so  with  the  soul  made  perfect  in  holiness, 
there  are  no  longer  any  errors  in  the  understanding, 
perverseness  in  the  will,  or  defect  in  the  affections. 
All  is  harmony,  light  and  love ;  the  image  of  God 
is  there,  in  all  its  attractive  lineaments,  so  far  as 
the  capacity  of  each  will  allow ;  but  each  has  scope 
for  growth  through  all  eternity. 

The  transition  is  doubtless  instantaneous.  It  is 
no  tiresome  walk  down  through  a  lonely,  dark  val- 
ley ;  it  is  no  weary  flight  upward,  as  the  eagle 
mounts,  higher  and  higher ;  but  no  sooner  is  a 
believer's  soul  disembodied,  than  it  is  in  Paradise. 
The  partition  once  broken  down,  what  shall  hinder 
an  immediate  view  of  all  beyond  ?  And  0,  what 
a  morning  is  that  day-break  of  glory !  The  sun  of 
righteousness  shines  in  all  its  brightness.  It  is  the 
effulgence  of  Christ's  person  which  lights  up  that 
whole  far-f  tretching  world,  and  sheds  a  quickening 


68  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

radiance  on  every  resident  there.  If,  two  thousand 
years  before  Christ's  coming  on  earth,  Abraham  re- 
joiced to  see  his  day,  what  must  be  the  joy  of  seeing 
him  as  he  now  is,  at  the  right  hand  of  majesty,  in 
the  heavens ! 

Stray  beams  of  his  lustre  often  fall  on  the  dying 
believer  before  his  soul  leaves  its  tenement.  "  This 
is  heaven  begun,''  said  Rev.  Thomas  Scott ;  ''I 
have  done  with  darkness,  forever  —  forever.  Satan 
is  vanquished.  Nothing  now  remains  but  salvation, 
with  eternal  glory  —  eternal  glory."  Come  to  the 
veranda  of  a  Braminic  temple.  In  the  last  spasms 
of  Asiatic  cholera,  Gordon  Hall  cries, ''  Glory,  glory, 
glory  !  '*  and  he 

"  Passed  through  Glory's  morning  gate, 
And  walked  in  Paradise." 

"  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord, 
from  henceforth!'*  Blessed  are  the  dead  —  not 
survivors,  not  the  most  favored  of  those  who  remain 
here,  still  sinning  and  repenting,  and  so  imperfectly 
serving  God  —  but  blessed  are  the  dead  in  Christ 
who  have  ceased  from  sin,  are  made  perfect  in 
holiness,  and  have  passed  into  Paradise. 

Transplanted  trees  flourish  best.  Shall  we  grudge 
those  plants  of  righteousness  their  better  soil  and 


THE    PASSAGE.  69 

purer  air  ?  Shall  we  grudge  an  escape  from  the 
hovel  into  the  palace  of  the  Great  King  ?  "  Chil- 
dren/' said  the  mother  of  John  Wesley,  the  last 
thing  she  uttered,  "  Children,  as  soon  as  I  am  re- 
leased, sing  a  psalm  of  praise  to  God."  Music 
sounds  best  after  sunset.  It  is  no  time  to  mourn 
here,  while  angels  clap  their  wings,  and  the  whole 
family  above  cry.  Welcome  home  !  Who  would 
keep  his  toars  for  the  coronation  day  ? 

Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord ! 

"  Thus  star  by  star  declines,  • 

Till  all  are  passed  away ; 
As  morning  high  and  higher  shines 

To  pure  and  perfect  day. 
Nor  sink  those  stars  in  empty  night, 
But  hide  themselves  in  heaven's  own  light." 

Shall  not  this  abate  the  dread  of  dying  ?  That 
dread  is  instinctive  ;  it  is  deep.  By  most,  death  is 
regarded  as  ultimum  terribilium,  —  the  extremest  of 
things  terrible  ;  but  is  it  not  gain,  great,  unspeak 
able  gain,  to  the  child  of  God,  to  die  ?  And  shall 
we  hesitate  to  encounter  the  little  inconvenience  of 
stepping  ashore  from  this  shattered  vessel  ?  Why  so 
in  love  with  perils  ?  Whence  this  fondness  for  buf- 
fetings,  sickness,  and  protracted  wreck  ?  Whence 
this  aversion  to  enter  the  haven  of  everlasting  bliss  ? 


70  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

For  all  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,  death  has  been  un- 
stinged.  What  if  the  serpent,  deprived  of  its 
fangs,  do  hiss  ?  —  he  is  harmless. 

"  How  hard  it  is  to  die  !  "  remarked  a  friend  to  an 
expiring  believer.  "  0,  no,  no ! "  he  replied  ;  "  easy 
dying,  blessed  dying,  glorious  dying ! ''  Looking 
up  at  the  clock,  he  said,  "I  have  experienced  more 
happiness  in  dying,  two  hours  this  day,  than  in  my 
whole  life.  It  is  worth  a  whole  life  to  have  such  an 
end  as  this.  0,  I  never  thought  that  such  a  poor 
worm  as  I  could  come  to  such  a  glorious  death ! '' 

Chrysostom,  when  banished,  said  to  a  friend, 
''You  now  begin  to  lament  my  banishment,  but  I 
have  done  so  for  a  long  time  ;  for  since  I  knew  that 
heaven  is  my  country,  I  have  esteemed  the  whole 
world  a  place  of  exile.  Constantinople,  whence  I 
am  expelled,  is  as  far  from  Paradise  as  the  desert 
whither  they  send  me.*' 

A  few  moments  before  he  expired  Edmund  Au- 
ger said  to  a  friend,  "  Do  you  see  that  blessed 
assembly  who  await  my  arrival  ?  Do  you'  hear  that 
sweet  music,  with  which  those  holy  men  invite  me, 
that  I  may  henceforth  be  a  partaker  of  their  happi- 
ness ?  How  delightful  is  it  to  be  in  the  society  of 
blessed  spirits  .  Let  us  go.  We  must  go.  Let  me 
go."     0,  death    where  is  thy  sting  ? 


THE    PASSAGE.  71 

What  is  it  to  die  ?  To  believers,  it  is  to  drop  the 
body  of  this  death,  and  to  put  on  a  joyous  immor- 
tality ;  to  pass  from  darkness  to  everlasting  sun- 
light ;  to  cease  dreaming,  and  commence  a  waking 
existence  ;  yes,  to  awake  in  the  likeness  of  God  — 
satisfied,  fully  and  forever  satisfied.  What  is  it  to 
die  ?  To  feel  the  last  pang,  to  shed  the  last  tear, 
to  raise  the  shield  of  faith  against  Satan's  last  dart. 
It  is  to  go  home  to  God ;  to  open  the  eyes  on  the 
enthroned  Mediator ;  to  close  the  ears  upon  all  dis- 
cords, all  sounds  of  woe,  all  the  falsehoods,  the  mal- 
edictions, the  blasphemies  of  earth,  and  open  them 
to  the  harmonies  of  heaven.  What  is  it  to  die  ? 
It  is  to  stop  sinning,  to  cease  grieving  the  Spirit  and 
grieving  the  Saviour,  to  close  up  the  inconsistencies 
of  terrestrial  profession,  and  commence  a  forever 
blameless  life  in  bliss.  What  is  it  to  die  ?  To  lean 
on  the  Almighty  for  a  few  steps  down  a  narrow 
valley  ;  to  step  out  of  Jordan,  upon  the  borders  of 
the  Better  Land ;  to  pass  up  to  the  New  Jerusalem ; 
to  enter  by  one  of  those  gates  of  pearl  into  the 
city;  to  have  ten  thousand  angels  come  and  utter 
their  cordial  welcome  ;  to  see  —  0,  let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous  !  —  to  see  the  Saviour  smile 
benignantly,  and  to  hear  him  say,  *' Well  done,  good 


72  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

and  faithful  servant ;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord!'*    That  is  to  die. 

But,  in  order  to  that,  there  needs  be  "an  anchor 
to  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast,"  —  a  most 
earnest  "  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher 
of  our  faith."  It  was  not  in  the  hour  of  martyrdom 
that  Stephen  first  beheld  the  Lamb  of  God.  The  re- 
ligion that  is  good  for  nothing  in  life,  is  good  for 
nothing  in  death.  The  time  will  come,  when  we  shall 
need  a  strong  arm  near,  and  a  firm  faith  to  grasp  it. 
The  sentimentalities  of  fading  flowers,  and  falling 
leaves,  and  of  moonlight  musing,  all  the  prettinesses 
of  poetry,  all  natural  amiabilities,  and  mere  natura. 
charities,  however  cultivated,  will  avail  nothing  in 
the  day  when  God  shall  require  the  soul  —  in  the 
day  when  we  stand  at  his  bar.  Faith  alone  will  suf- 
fice, —  an  appropriating,  justifying  faith ;  an  opera- 
tive, vitalizing  faith  ;  a  hearty,  adoring  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  stands  as  Kedeemer  and 
Advocate  at  the  right  hand  of  God, 


CHAPTER    VI. 

RECOGNITION     OF    FRIENDS. 

I  count  the  hope  no  day-dream  of  the  mind, 

No  vision  fair  of  transitory  hue, 

The  souls  of  those,  Avhom  once  on  earth  we  knew. 
And  loved,  and  walked  with  in  communion  kind. 
Departed  hence,  again  in  heaven  to  find. 

Such  hope  to  nature's  sympathies  is  true  ; 

And  such,  we  deem,  the  holy  word  to  view 

Unfolds  ;  an  antidote  for  grief  designed, 
One  drop  from  comfort's  well.     'T  is  true  we  read 

The  Book  of  life  ;  but  if  we  read  amiss. 
By  God  prepared,  fresh  treasures  shall  succeed 

To  kinsmen,  fellows,  friends,  a  vast  abyss 
Of  joy  ;  nor  aught  the  longing  spirit  need 

To  fill  its  measure  of  enormous  bliss. 

Bishop  Mani 


Many  seem  to  conceive  of  heaven  mainly  as  a 
rendezvous  for  friends ;  that,  immediately  upon 
entering  its  mansions,  the  soul  is  engrossed  in  recog- 
nizing and  being  recognized  by  earthy  associate^ ; 
that  future  bliss  consists  almost  entirely  in  the  re- 
newal of  domestic  attachments,  and  in  the  mere 
luxuries  of  amiable  intercourse.  Not  a  few,  who 
entertain  more  scriptural  views,  still  betray  an  ex- 


74  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

cessive  curiosity  on  this  point ;  impatient  to  know 
what  can  be  fully  known  only  in  another  world. 
Eevelation  was  not  given,  nor  did  Christ  come  tc 
gratify  inquisitiveness,  but  to  withdraw  men  from 
sin,  and  make  them  monuments  of  his  grace  in 
glory.  Yet,  a  proper  discussion  of  the  subject,  if  it 
remove  needless  doubts,  and  render  anticipation 
more  definite,  will  not  be  in  vain  :  it  will  leave  the 
mind  free  from  vain  inquiries,  and  prepared  to  relish 
more  important  themes. 

Here  we  must  look  for  guidance  to  the  lively  ora- 
cles. But,  in  doing  ..so,  it  will  not  be  amiss  first  to 
glance  at  the  working  of  '  certain  minds  on  this 
subject,  when  not  enlightened  by  the  word  of  God. 
The  philosopher  at  Athens,  with  the  fatal  hemlock 
in  his  hand,  discourses  thus  :  "If  the  common  ex- 
pression be  true,  that  death  conveys  us  to  those 
regions  which  are  inhabited  by  the  spirits  of 
departed  men,  will  it  not  be  unspeakably  happy  to 
escape  from  the  hands  of  mere  nominal  judges,  and 
appear  before  those  who  truly  deserve  the  name, 
such  as  Minos  and  Rhadamanthus,  and  to  associate 
with  all  who  have  maintained  the  cause  of  truth  and 
rectitude  ?  Is  it  possible  for  you  to  look  upon  this 
as  an  unimportant  journey  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  con- 
verse   with   Orpheus,   and    Homer,   and   Hesiod  ? 


.  RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  75 

Believe  me,  I  would  cheerfully  suffer  many  a  death 
on  condition  of  realizing  such  a  privilege.  With 
what  pleasure  could  I  leave  the  world,  to  hold  com- 
munion with  Palamedes,  Ajax,  and  others,  who  like 
me  have  had  an  unjust  sentence  pronounced  against 
them  !  Then  would  I  explore  the  wisdom  of  Ulys- 
ses, Lysippus,  and  that  illustrious  chief  who  led  out 
the  vast  army  of  the  Greeks  against  the  city  of  Troy. 
Nor  should  I  be  condemned  to  death  for  indulging, 
as  I  have  done  here,  in  free  inquiry.'' 

Cicero  puts  language  like  this  into  the  mouth  of 
Cato : — *'  For  my  own  part,  I  feel  myself  transported 
with  the  most  ardent  impatience  to  join  the  society 
of  my  two  departed  friends,  your  illustrious  fathers, 
whose  characters  I  greatly  respected,  and  whose 
persons  I  sincerely  loved.  Nor  is  this,  my  earnest 
desire,  confined  to  those  excellent  persons  alone, 
with  whom  I  was  formerly  connected :  I  ardently 
wish  to  visit  also  those  celebrated  worthies,  of  whose 
honorable  conduct  I  have  heard  and  read  much,  or 
whose  virtues  I  have  myself  commemorated  in  some 
of  my  writings.  To  this  glorious  assembly  I  am 
speedily  advancing ;  and  I  would  not  be  turned 
back  in  my  journey,  even  on  the  assured  condition 
that  my  youth,  like  that  of  Pelias,  should  be  again 
restored. 


76  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

0,  glorious  day !  when  I  shall  retire  from  this 
low  and  sordid  scene,  to  assemble  with  the  divine 
congregation  of  departed  spirits  ;  and  not  with  those 
only  whom  I  have  just  now  mentioned,  but  with  my 
dear  Cato,  that  best  of  sons  and  most  valuable  of 
men !  It  was  my  sad  fate  to  lay  his  body  on  the 
funeral  pile,  when  by  the  course  of  nature  I  had 
reason  to  hope  he  would  have  performed  the  same 
last  office  to  mine.  His  soul,  however,  did  not 
desert  me,  but  still  looked  back  on  me  in  its  flight 
to  those  happy  mansions,  to  which  he  was  assured  I 
should  one  day  follow  him.  If  I  seemed  to  bear  his 
death  with  fortitude,  it  was  by  no  means  that  I  did 
not  most  sensibly  feel  the  loss  I  had  sustained  :  it 
was  because  I  supported  myself  with  the  consoling 
reflection  that  we  could  not  long  be  separated." 

Thus  was  it  that  anciently  minds  of  a  high  order 
and  finished  culture — reflecting  and  philosophic 
minds  —  indulged  in  delightful  anticipations.  We 
open  classic  poets,  and  find  similar  ideas  frequently 
recurring.  It  moves  us  well-nigh  to  tears,  as  we  con- 
template their  delineation  of  shadowy  scenes  in  the 
future,  where  recognition  takes  place  indeed,  but 
the  dim,  vanishing  forms  thwart  all  attempts  at  sat- 
isfactory intercourse. 

Turning  to  ruder  nations,   and  less   cultivated 


RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  77 

minds,  we  find  that  the  ancient  Germans  expected 
t3  meet  their  friends  after  death,  in  a  beautiful, 
peaceful  valley.  The  custom,  among  many  pagan 
nations,  of  slaying  the  servants  of  princes,  that  they 
may  attend  them  in  another  world,  involves  of  course 
the  idea  of  recognition. 

A  belief  of  this  kind,  though  deep  and  general, 
does  not,  however,  prove  its  own  correctness ;  it 
will  have  very  little  weight  with  those  who  have  a 
more  sure  word  of  prophecy ;  yet  must  we  regard 
it  as  somewhat  significant,  and  closely  related  to 
an  essential  element  of  the  human  soul,  indicating 
a  want  in  the  general  heart,  thus  plainly  ex- 
pressed. We  would  give  to  it,  in  connection  with 
this  subject,  some  such  a  place  as  we  assign  to  the 
general  belief  of  immortality  in  an  argument  to 
establish  that  belief. 

Taking  this  side  glance,  as  we  approach  the  in- 
spired volume,  we  naturally  inquire,  why  should  it 
not  be  so  ?  What  reasonable  objection  can  be  urged 
against  it  ?  So  far  from  there  being  just  ground  to 
oppose  it,  does  not  every  enlightened  and  Christian 
mind  long  that  it  should  be  true  ?  What  would 
society  on  earth  be  without  mutual  recognition  ? 
And  is  heaven  a  less  social  place ,?  Is  the  demand 
for  this  less  imperative  there  ?  Will  our  beloved 
7* 


is  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Christian  friend  be  less  himself  after  death  than 
now,  or  lose  those  characteristics  which  attach  us  to 
him  here  ? 

We  open  the  Bible.  We  peruse  it  carefully. 
From  first  to  last  we  find  nothing  that  conflicts  with 
this  belief  If  this  were  all  we  could  say,  even  that 
would  be  in  its  favor.  Here  is  our  first  proof,  and 
though  negative,  yet  it  is  valid.  But  let  us  examine 
what  the  Scriptures  teach  respecting  the  abode  and 
condition  of  the  glorified.  In  respect  to  their  con- 
iition,  we  find  that  it  is  eminently  social.  They  are 
represented  as  citizens,  intermingling  freely ;  but 
there  is  no  intimation  that  previous  to  their  meet- 
ing there  they  were  all  strangers.  They  form  a 
family,  whose  members  were  once  on  earth ;  and 
can  their  quickened  recollection  be  oblivious  of 
former  acquaintance  ?  Do  they  know  less  than  they 
did  here  ?  Does  not  Lazarus  know  in  whose  bosom 
he  is  ?  All  the  conceptions  of  heaven  suggested  by 
the  Bible  favor  the  idea  of  future  recognition. 

This  is  our  second  step  in  the  examination  of 
divine  testimony.  Let  us  now  proceed  to  a  scrutiny 
of  particular  passages.  The  New  Testament  is 
before  us.  Our  Lord  speaks  :  —  ''  And  I  say  unto 
you,  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west, 
and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 


RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  79 

Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Will  they  meet 
at  that  banquet  without  recognition?  Again:  — 
''  Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  me  in 
my  temptations ;  and  I  appoint  unto  you  a  king- 
dom, as  my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  me,  that 
ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table,  in  my  kingdom, 
and  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel."  Can  that  be  fulfilled  while  the  parties 
are  strangers  to  each  other  ?  And  when,  at  the 
last  judgment,  he  shall  speak  of  things  done  to 
"  these  my  brethren,"  will  they  not  recognize  those 
who  have  done  them  either  an  injury  or  a  kindness  ? 
If,  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  the  disciples 
knew  Moses  and  Elias,  who  had  already  been  a 
thousand  years  in  glory,  will  not  all  disciples  know 
them,  and  know  one  another,  on  the  Mount  Zion 
above  ? 

We  open  letters  from  the  great  Apostle,  and 
read :  —  "  Knowing  that  he  which  raised  up  the  Lord 
J«sus  shall  raise  up  us  also,  by  Jesus,  and  shall  ^ 
present  us  with  you;'*  and,  again,  1  Thess.  2 :  19: 
"  For  what  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown  of  re- 
joicing ?  Are  not  even  ye  in  the  presence  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  coming  ? "  We  con- 
clude with  confidence  that  Paul  expected  to  rec- 
ognize those  Thessalonian  converts  amid  the  throng 


80  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

before  the  throne.  Turning  back  to  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  hearing  patriarchs  speak  of  ''being 
gathered  to  their  fathers,"  and  David  of  ''going 
to  the  child,''  we  infer  that  they  expected  to 
know  their  kindred  in  the  Better  Land.  In  the 
fourteenth  of  Isaiah  we  read :  —  "  Hell  from  beneath 
is  moved  for  thee  to  meet  thee  at  thy  coming ;  it 
stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee,  even  all  the  chief  ones 
of  the  earth ;  it  hath  raised  up  from  their  thrones  all 
the  kings  of  the  nations.  All  they  shall  speak 
and  say  unto  thee.  Art  thou  also  become  weak  as 
we  ?  art  thou  become  like  unto  us  ?  Thy  pomp  is 
brought  down  to  the  grave,  and  the  noise  of  thy 
viols  :  the  worm  is  spread  under  thee,  and  the 
worms  cover  thee.  How  art  thou  fallen  from 
heaven,  0  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning !  how  art 
thou  cut  down  to  the  ground,  which  didst  weaken 
the  nations  ! ''  If  that  be  true  among  the  lost, 
shall  it  not  be  also  among  the  blessed  ?  If  Dives 
in  torment  recognizes  Lazarus  afar  off  in  Abra- 
ham's bosom,  shall  not  Lazarus  recognize  those 
who  are  near  and  round  about  him  ? 

Neither  the  Old  Testament  nor  the  New  goes 
into  minute  details  respecting  the  heavenly  state, 
or  teaches  future  recognition,  positively  and  direct- 
ly ;  but,  in  view  of  the  general  expectation  of  the 


RECOGNITION     OF    FRIENDS.  81 

human  mind,  the  absence  of  adverse  testimony,  and 
these  decided  though  incidental  teachings,  we  may 
be  sure  that  Christian  friends  will  know  one  another 
in  the  future  world. 

In  a  preliminary  part  of  the  chapter,  we  glanced 
at  the  character  of  belief  on  this  subject  in  lands 
not  illumined  by  the  gospel.  Let  us  now  glance  at 
the  belief  of  those  who  have  had  the  holy  Scriptures. 
Cyprian,  in  the  third  century,  responds  thus  :  — 
"  Who,  finding  himself  in  a  strange  country,  does 
not  earnestly  desire  to  return  to  his  fatherland  ? 
Who,  about  to  sail  in  haste  for  his  home  and  his 
friends  across  the  sea,  does  not  long  for  a  friendly 
wind,  that  he  may  the  sooner  throw  his  arms  around 
his  beloved  ones  ?  We  believe  Paradise  to  be  our 
fatherland  ;  our  parents  are  the  patriarchs  :  why 
should  we  not  haste  and  fly  to  see  our  home  and 
greet  our  parents  ?  A  great  host  of  beloved  friends 
awaits  us  there  ;  a  numerous  and  various  crowd, 
parents,  brethren,  children,  who  are  secure  in  a 
blessed  immortality,  and  only  concerned  for  us,  are 
looking  with  desire  for  our  arrival.  To  see  and 
embrace  these  —  what  a  mutual  joy  will  this  be  to 
us  and  then: !  What  bliss,  without  the  fear  of 
death,  to  live  eternally  in  the  heavenly  kingdom  ! 
How  vast,  and  of  eternal  iuration,  is  our  celestial 


82  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

blessedness  !  There  is  the  glorious  choir  of  the 
apostles  ;  there  the  host  of  joyful  prophets  ;  there 
the  innumerable  company  of  the  martyrs,  crowned 
on  account  of  their  victories  in  the  conflict  of  suf- 
fering. There,  in  triumph,  are  the  pure  virgins. 
There  the  merciful  —  who  have  fed  and  blessed  the 
poor,  and,  according  to  their  Lord's  direction,  have 
exchanged  earthly  for  heavenly  treasures — now  re- 
ceive their  glorious  reward.  To  these,  dearly  be- 
loved brethren,  let  us  hasten  with  strong  desire, 
and  ardently  wish  soon  to  be  with  them,  and  with 
Christ.'' 

In  the  fourth  century,  Chrysostom  speaks  :  —  ''If 
we  hear  him  [Paul]  here,  we  shall  certainly  see  him 
hereafter ;  if  not  as  standing  near  him,  yet  see  him 
we  certainly  shall,  glistening  near  the  throne  of  the 
King.  Where  the  cherubim  sing  the  glory,  where 
the  seraphim  are  flying,  there  shall  we  see  Paul, 
with  Peter,  both  as  a  chief  and  leader  of  the  choir 
of  the  saints,  and  shall  enjoy  his  generous  love." 

Pass  on  to  the  period  of  the  Keformation.  The 
great  German  reformer,  the  evening  before  his 
death,  being  asked  what  he  thought  on  this  point, 
remarks  as  follows  :  —  "  How  did  Adam  do  ?  ,  He 
had  never  in  his  life  seen  Eve  —  he  lay  and  slept 
—  yet,  when  he  awoke,  he  did  not  say.  Whence 


RECOGNITION     OF    FRIENDS.  83 

came  you  ?  who  are  you  ?  —  but  he  said,  '  This  is 
now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh.' 
How  did  he  know  that  this  woman  did  not  spring 
forth  from  a  stone  ?  He  knew  it  because  he  was 
full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  possession  of  the 
true  knowledge  of  God.  Into  this  knowledge  and 
image  we  shall,  in  the  future  life,  again  be  renewed 
in  Christ;  so  that  we  shall  know  father,  mother, 
and  one  another,  on  sight,  better  than  did  Adam 
and  Eve.'' 

Z wangle,  the  Swiss  reformer,  speaks :  —  ''There 
you  may  hope  to  see  the  society,  the  assembly,  and 
the  dwelling  together  of  all  the  holy,  wise,  faith- 
ful, heroic,  firm,  and  virtuous,  who  have  lived  since 
the  beginning  of  the  world.  There  you  shall  see 
the  two  Adams,  the  saved  and  the  Saviour.  There 
you  will  see  Abel,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  Judah,  Moses,  Joshua,  Gideon,  Samuel, 
Phineas,  Elijah,  Elisha,  Isaiah,  and  the  mother  of 
God,  of  whom  he  has  prophesied.  There  you  will 
see  David,  Hezekiah,  Josiah,  John  the  Baptist, 
Peter,  Paul,  &c.  There  you  will  see  yours  who 
have  gone  before  you,  and  all  your  forefathers  who 
have  departed  this  life  in  the  faith.  In  a  word,  no 
virtuous  person,  no  holy  mind,  no  believing  soul. 


84  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

has  lived  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  or  shall 
yet  live,  that  you  shall  not  there  meet  with  God/' 
Another  century  rolls  on,  and  we  hear  the  senti- 
ments of  him  who  discoursed  so  sweetly  of  the 
saints'  everlasting  rest :  —  "I  must  confess,  says 
Kichard  Baxter,  "  as  the  experience  of  my  own 
soul,  that  the  expectation  of  loving  my  friends 
in  heaven  principally  kindles  my  love  to  them  on 
earth.  If  I  thought  I  should  never  know  them, 
and  consequently  never  love  them,  after  this  life  is 
ended,  I  should  in  reason  number  them  with  tem- 
poral things,  and  love  them  as  such.  But  I  now 
delight  to  converse  with  my  pious  friends,  in  a  firm 
persuasion  that  I  shall  converse  with  them  forever ; 
and  I  take  comfort  in  those  of  them  who  are  dead 
or  absent,  as  believing  I  shall  shortly  meet  them  in 
heaven,  and  love  them  with  a  heavenly  love  that 
shall  there  be  perfected."  His  cotemporary  and 
friend,  John  Eliot,  for  many  months  before  he  died, 
would  often  say  that  he  was  shortly  going  to  heaven, 
and  that  he  would  carry  a  deal  of  good  news  thither 
with  him :  he  said  he  would  carry  tidings  to  the 
old  founders  of  New  England,  who  were  now  in 
glory,  that  church  work  was  yet  carried  on  among 
us  ;  that  the  number  of  our  churches  was  contin- 
ually increasing  ;  and  that  the  churches  were  still 


RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  85 

kept  as  big  as  they  were,  by  the  daily  additions  of 
those  who  shall  be  saved.  "  Shall  I  know  you  in 
heaven  ?  '*  said  an  inquiring  red  man  to  John  Eliot 
himself.  The  old  chief  Shenandoah  wished  to  be 
buried  beside  his  religious  teacher,  that  at  the  res- 
urrection he  might  go  up  with  him.  That  Choctaw 
is  still  a  living  ojB&cer  in  the  church,  who  wished  a 
ministerial  visitor  to  turn  round,  that  he  might  have 
a  full  view  of  his  face,  so  as  to  know  him  again  in 
heaven. 

These  are  specimens,  taken  from  different  periods 
and  countries  of  Christendom,  from  different  races 
and  ranks  of  men,  among  all  which,  however,  is 
found  the  common  belief  of  future  recognition. 
Would  that  belief  have  been  so  universal  were  it 
unreasonable  or  unscriptural  ? 

If,  then,  this  hope  of  future  recognition  has  been 
so  general  even  among  the  heathen ;  if,  while  we 
long  for  its  fulfilment,  we  find  nothing  to  forbid  our 
hoping  that  such  may  be  the  case ;  most  of  all,  if 
the  Scriptures  present  no  difiiculties,  but  strong 
incidental  evidence,  —  evidence  which  for  centuries 
has  satisfied  believers  in  the  most  varied  conditions, 
—  we  may  well  believe  that  Christian  friends  on 
earth  will  certainly  recognize  one  another  in  heaven. 
That  affection  which  yearns  tow.ird  Machpelah, 
8 


86  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

which  carves  touching  memorials  on  the  tombs  of 
the  departed  the  world  over,  and  which  is  sanc- 
tioned by  the  inspiration  that  cannot  err,  —  that 
affection  is  a  true  seer ;  and  it  would  be  like  killing 
one  of  the  prophets,  and  stoning  them  that  are  sent 
unto  us,  should  we  uproot  it  from  the  heart. 

It  is  not,  of  course,  personal  friends  alone  who 
are  to  know  one  another  in  heaven.  The  saints  in 
glory  will  no  doubt  ultimately  all  become  acquainted 
with  each  other.  How  many  will  at  different  times 
inquire,  ''What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in 
white  robes  ?  and  whence  came  they  ?  "  And 
how  many  delighted  disciples,  on  that  mount  above, 
will  exclaim,  through  everlasting  ages,  "  It  is  good 
for  us  to  be  here  !'' 

0  what  hours  will  those  be  when  we  shall  shake 
hands  with  Enoch,  David  and  Paul, — when  we  shall 
feel  around  our  necks  the  pressure  of  Abraham's 
arms,  and  the  beloved  disciple  !  Do  we  wish  to 
talk  with  the  venerable  reformers,  martyrs  and 
Puritans  ?  —  with  John  Bunyan,  Philip  Doddridge 
and  President  Edwards  ?  It  will  soon  be  grati- 
fied. 

"  I  want  to  go  to  heaven,''  said  Dr.  Emmons,  in 
his  old  age.  "  It  is  an  inexpressibly  glorious  place. 
The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  delightful  it  ap- 


RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  87 

pears/'  ''  And  I  wa\it  to  see  who  is  there  ;  I  want 
to  see  brother  Sanford,  and  brother  Niles,  and 
brother  Spring,  and  Dr.  Hopkins,  and  Dr.  AYest, 
and  a  great  many  other  ministers,  with  whom  I 
have  been  associated  in  this  world,  but  who  have 
gone  before  me.  I  believe  I  shall  meet  them  in 
heaven ;  and,  it  seems  to  me,  our  meeting  there 
must  be  peculiarly  interesting."  He  added,  '*I 
want  to  see,  too,  the  -old  prophets,  and  the  apostles. 
What  a  society  there  will  be  in  heaven  !  There 
we  shall  see  such  men  as  Moses,  and  Isaiah,  and 
Elijah,  and  David,  and  Paul ;  I  want  to  see  Paul 
more  than  any  man  I  can  think  of." 

The  question.  Shall  we  know  our  friends  and 
others  in  heaven  ?  is  answered.  The  intimations 
of  God's  word  all  favor  it ;  and  those  intimations 
accord  with  the  irrepressible  demands  of  the  hu- 
man soul.  It  was  doubtless,  in  part,  to  encourage 
this  hope  that  Moses  and  Elias  appeared  to  the  dis- 
ciples, and  talked  with  them  on  the  mount  of  glory.  \^ 
And  if  those  who  never  met  on  earth  are  to  recog- 
nize one  another  in  heaven,  shall  not  personal 
friends  much  more  ?  Most  evidently  was  it  the 
apostle's  expectation  to  recognize  his  Corinthian, 
Colossian  and  Thessalonian  friends ;  and  has  he 
been  disappointed  ?     And  will  not  other,  yea,  all 


88  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  sanctified  intimacies  of  earth,  be  perpetuated 
in  the  everlasting  home  of  the  redeemed  ?  Every- 
place of  holy  fellowship  and  prayer  answers,  Yes. 
Every  inner  recess  of  the  heart  answers.  Yes. 

Blessed  gathering  !  Blessed  greetings  !  Joy- 
ful indeed  will  be  the  mutual  recognition  of 
earthly  friends  who  are  one  in  Christ.  Joyful  in- 
deed will  be  the  meeting  of  those  who  have  taken 
sweet  counsel  together,  who  have  devoutly  prayed 
and  sung  together,  who  have  been  companions  in 
tribulation,  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of 
Jesus  Christ.  But  unspeakable  must  be  the  joy  of 
those  who  then  behold  in  each  other  the  instruments 
of  their  own  conversion,  or  the  results  of  their 
labors  for  the  salvation  of  others,  and  jointly  give 
all  the  glory  to  a  present  God.  And  0,  what 
heart  will  then  be  large  enough  for  the  rapture  of 
a  successful  ambassador  of  Christ !  —  of  one  like 
Paul,  meeting  the  multitudes  saved  through  his 
instrumentality  ?  Signal  indeed  must  be  the  grace 
that  shall  prevent  such  a  soul  from  being  completely 
overwhelmed  in  the  transport  of  that  hour.  To 
find  that  his  ministrations  were  owned  beyond  his 
thoughts ;  that  many,  by  his  preaching,  were  turned 
to  righteousness ;  that  a  prayer  for  some  apparently 
hopeless  sinner  was   answered ;    to   find  youthful 


RECOGNITION    OF    FRIENDS.  89 

professors  edified,  and  aged  saints  comforted  ;  that 
churches  were  refreshed,  it  may  be,  by  his  pres- 
ence ;  that,  directly  or  indirectly,  foreign  evangel- 
ization was  accelerated  by  him ;  and  all,  only 
because  sovereign  grace  called,  enabled  and  per- 
suaded him  to  the  same.  0,  it  requires  other  than 
human  pens  to  describe  the  emotions  of  such  men 
in  glory ! 

But  what  friend  in  heaven  do  we  most  desire  to 
see  ?  No  one  can  enter  there  whose  heart  looks 
not  first  of  all  at  him  who  is  seated  on  the  great 
white  throne.  What  are  our  ideas  of  the  city 
of  God?  Is  not  Christ  the  light  thereof?  Is 
not  the  glory  which  he  had  before  the  world  was, 
to  be  there  displayed  ?  Did  the  Eternal  Son  take 
a  human  form  ?  — in  it  agonize  in  Gethsemane,  be 
scourged  in  the  judgment-hall,  crucified  on  Golgo- 
tha, sleep  in  the  sepulchre,  and  rise  to  heaven, 
and  shall  any  other  human  form  divert  the  eye  from 
that  ?  Are  those  the  scars  that  speak  of  precious 
blood  once  shed  for  you  ?  Are  those  the  lips  that 
cried,  "It  is  finished  ''  ?  And  will  we  soon  with- 
draw our  gaze  ?  No,  much  as  we  love  all  other 
friends,  there  is  one  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  who 
wiU  make  us  temporarily  forget  them  all.  For 
years  —  if  there  be  years  there  —  ay,  for  centuries, 
8* 


90  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

it  may  be,  will  the  Lamb  of  God  absorb  our  souls. 
When  we  reach  the  city  of  God,  we  shall  not, 
first  of  all,  grasp  the  hands  of  present  acquaint- 
ances. Of  such  an  affront  to  the  proprieties  of 
heaven,  no  one,  presented  at  the  court  of  the  King 
of  kings,  was  ever  guilty.  Bowing  down  in  such 
gratitude  as  we  never  knew  before,  gazing  in  a 
holy  ecstasy  of  love,  breaking  forth  into  high  and 
ceaseless  praises,  there  shall  we  stand  age  after 
age.  Not,  it  may  be,  till  the  world  has  been  burnt 
up  —  not  till  the  elect  have  all  been  gathered  home 
to  their  Father's  house,  shall  we  think  of  looking 
away  from  that  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory, 
our  Saviour,  our  dear  Redeemer.  Eternity  will  be 
long  enough  for  all  the  sanctified  attachments  of 
earth  to  have  full  scope.  But  thj3  first  song,  the 
everlasting  song,  will  be,  *'  Now  unto  him  that 
loved  us,  and  hath  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his 
own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests 
unto  God  and  his  Father,  to  him  be  glory  for- 
ever." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    HEAVENLY    BANQUET. 

• 

"  Apostles,  martyrs,  prophets,  there, 
Around  my  Saviour  stand, 
And  soon  my  friends  in  Christ  below 
Will  join  the  glorious  band. 

Jerusalem !  my  happy  home. 

My  soul  still  pants  for  thee ; 
Then  shall  my  sorrows  have  an  end. 

When  I  thy  joys  shall  see." 

Few  r3marks  are  more  trite  than  that  man  is  a 
social  being.  Of  all  known  beings  he  is  the  most 
so.  For  aught  that  appears  to  the  contrary,  he  has 
a  greater  variety  of  desires  and  affections,  and 
these  possess  greater  flexibility  and  capacity  of 
expansion,  than  exist  in  any  other  creature  in  the 
universe.  The  forms  under  which  association  takes 
place  are  exceedingly  numerous,  both  in  the  family 
and  community,  as  also  in  various  special  socie- 
ties and  combinations ;  but  they  all  illustrate  a 
common  and  powerful  principle  of  human  nature. 
Love  and  fa  ir,  the  necessities  and  conveniences  of 


92  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

existence,  will  draw  men  together,  in  larger  or 
smaller  circles,  notwithstanding  wide  diversities 
of  culture.  It  is  in  company  that  they  roam  and 
pitch  their  tents,  that  they  engage  in  war  and 
amusement.  Commerce,  the  arts,  law,  history, 
and  language  itself,  are  only  manifestations  of  this 
universal  characteristic.  Isolation  is  artificial.  It 
does  violence  to  nature.  The  man  absolutely  re- 
moved from  human  intercourse  is  withdrawn  from 
the  atmosphere  which  all  must  breathe  to  live. 
A  hermit,  happy  or  useful,  is  an  impossibility. 

"  The  remark  was  shrewd, 
How  sweet,  how  passing  sweet,  is  solitude  ! 
But  grant  me  still  a  friend  in  my  retreat, 
Whom  I  may  whisper,  —  Solitude  is  sweet." 

The  questions  arise.  Is  this  pervading  element 
of  our  nature  extinguished  by  death  ?  or  does  the 
love  of  society  survive  the  grave  ?  and,  if  so, 
under  what  circumstances  will  it  be  manifested  ? 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  inferred,  from  the 
considerations,  that  personal  identity  is  to  be  pre- 
served; that,  doubtless,  all  which  is  essential  to 
identity  is  just  that,  no  more,  no  less,  which  is 
requisite  for  recognition  ;  that  all  the  faculties  of 
the    mind-  -perception    and    recollection    among 


THE  HEAVENLY  BANQUET.        93 

them  —  are  to  be  wonderfully  quickened ;  that  it 
does  violence  to  the  demands  of  our  nature  to  sup- 
pose the  opposite  ;  that  no  valid  objections  can  be 
adduced ;  and  that  the  Scripture  intimations  strongly 
favor  it ;  —  from  all  this  it  was  concluded  that 
Christian  friends  will  know  one  another  in  heaven. 
But  is  simple  recognition  all  ?  Are  saints  merely 
to  meet  in  glory,  then  go  their  several  ways,  with- 
out further  intercourse  ;  or  to  sit  down  side  by  side 
in  lasting  silence  ? 

Why  are  we  to  know  and  be  known;  why  is 
memory,  with  quickened  powers,  to  summon  up  the 
past ;  why  is  the  heart  to  rejoice  in  the  continuance 
of  former  attachments,  only  stronger  and  purer 
than  before,  —  if  it  be  not  that  communion,  more 
free  and  exalted,  is  to  be  enjoyed  forever  ?  All 
reasons  for  recognition  derive  their  main  force  from 
something  beyond,  to  which  recognition  is  only  an 
introduction.  If  occasion  required,  we  might  sum- 
mon before  us  the  same  witnesses  who  gave  their 
testimony  in  favor  of  recognition.  The  vener- 
able philosopher  of  Athens  would  say,  ''Are  there 
not  numbers  who,  upon  the  death  of  their  lovers, 
wives,  and  children,  have  chosen,  of  their  own 
accord,  to  enter  Hades,  induced  by  the  hope  of 
seeing  there  those  they  loved,  anl  of  Kving  with 


94  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

them  again  ? ''  The  classic  poets  would  picture  to 
us  scenes  of  uninterrupted  social  life  amid  Elysian 
islands.  If  we  were  again  to  consult  the  Christian 
fathers,  Ambrose  would  reply,  ''Let  us  believe 
that  Valentinian  is  ascended  from  the  desert ;  that 
is  to  say,  from  this  dry  and  uncultivated  place,  to 
those  flowery  delights,  where,  being  united  with 
his  brother,  he  enjoys  the  pleasures  of  everlasting 
life."  Or,  if  testimony  from  without  were  desired, 
we  might  pause  to  catch  the  last  words  of  the  great 
Arabian  impostor  :  "  Yes,  I  come  among  you,  my 
fellow- citizens  on  high."  In  Calvin's  farewell  let- 
ter to  the  aged  Farel  we  read  :  "  God  bless  you, 
best  and  noblest  brother ;  and  if  God  permits  you 
still  longer  to  live,  forget  not  the  tie  which  binds 
us,  which  will  be  just  as  agreeable  to  us  in  heaven 
as  it  has  been  useful  to  the  church  on  earth." 

If  stricken  parental  hearts  prompt  our  search, 
the  soothing  voice  of  Philip  Doddridge  will  greet 
our  ear:  "Let  me  be  thankful  for  the  pleasing 
hope  that,  though  God  loves  my  child  too  well  to 
permit  it  to  return  to  me,  he  will,  ere  long,  bring 
me  to  it.  And  then  that  endeared  paternal  affec- 
tion, which  would  have  been  a  cord  to  tie  me  to 
earth,  and  have  added  new  pangs  to  my  removal 
from  it,  will  be  as  a  golden  chain  to  draw  me  up- 


THE  HEAVENLT  BANQUET.        95 

wards,  and  add  one  further  charm  and  joy  even  to 
paradise  itself.  Was  this  my  desolation,  this  my 
sorrow,  to  part  with  thee  for  a  few  days  that  I 
might  receive  thee  forever  (Philem.  v.  15),  and  find 
thee  what  thou  art  ?  It  is  for  no  language  hut  that 
of  heaven  to  describe  the  sacred  joy  which  such  a 
meeting  must  occasion." 

Does  the  sundering  of  the  closest  intimacy  on  earth 
shape  our  inquiries  ?  John  Newton's  thoughts  turn 
in  the  same  direction:  "  There,  I  humbly  trust,  my 
dear  Mary  is  waiting  for  me,  and,  in  the  Lord's  own 
time,  I  hope  to  join  with  her,  and  all  the  redeemed, 
in  praising  the  Lamb,  once  upon  the  cross,  now 
upon  the  throne  of  glory.'' 

The  desires  and  anticipations  of  a  pastor  would 
lead  once  more  to  consult  Richard  Baxter,  who,  in 
turn,  asks,  "Why,  then,  may  not  I,  with  distinct 
conceptions  and  joyful  desires,  look  after  the  souls 
of  my  departed  friends,  that  are  now  in  the  celes- 
tial kingdom  ?  Though  malignity  hath  scorned  me 
for  naming  some  few  in  my  '  Saints'  Rest,'  being 
such  as  the  despisers  hated,  yet  I  forbear  not,  on 
such  accounts,  to  solace  myself  by  naming  more, 
but  because  they  are  more  than  it  is  fit  to  number. 
In  all  places  where  I  have  lived  how  many  excel- 
lent souls  (though  here  they  were  not  perfect)  are 


y6  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

gone  to  Christ.  How  sweet  is  the  remembrance 
if  the  communion  which  I  had  with  many  of 
■hem  in  Shrewsbury,  and  other  parts  of  Shrop- 
shire ;  of  many  at  Dudley,  and  the  adjoining  parts ; 
jf  multitudes  at  Kidderminster,  Bendley,  and  other 
parts  of  Worcestershire  ;  of  abundance  at  Coventry, 
and  other  parts  of  Warwickshire  ;  and  of  many 
where  I  have  sojourned  in  other  parts  of  the  land  ; 
and,  above  all,  in  London,  and  the  adjoining  parts ! 
But  it  is  heaven  that  is  spangled  with  these  spirit- 
ual stars  ;  the  place  honored  with  them,  and  they 
with  it,  and  all  by  Christ.''  Does  the  thought  of 
some  cross-bearing  missionary  occur  to  us  ?  It  did 
to  Henry  Martyn :  "I  feel  my  heart  knit  to  this 
dear  man  [Brainard] ,  and  really  rejoice  to  think  of 
meeting  him  in  heaven." 

But  all  this  is  not  necessary.  It  may  be  suggest- 
ive ;  it  certainly  is  not  decisive.  We  need  something 
else  than  the  pleasing  dreams  of  even  good  men, 
on  which  to  base  our'  hopes.  Are  we,  after  all, 
sure  there  will  be  any  such  table  spread  ?  Impos- 
tors are  abundant.  We  remember  the  words  of  Ga- 
maliel :  "Before  these  days  rose  up  Theudas,  boast- 
ing himself  to  be  somebody,  to  whom  a  number  of 
men,  about  four  hundred,  joined  themselves ;  who 
was  slain  ;   and  all,  as  many  as  obeyed  him,  were 


THE  HEAVENLY  BANQUET.         97 

scattered  and  brought  to  naught."  Experience  has 
taught  us  to  be  wary  of  specious  promises  and  flat- 
tering proclamations ;  and  must  we  not  be  incredu- 
lous, when  an  announcement  comes  touching  a 
scene  that  lies  in  another  and  future  world  ? 

We  pause  then ;  but  prudence  does  not  call 
on  us  to  question  the  veracity  of  him  who  is  the 
faithful  and  true  witness.  It  is  the  King's  own 
Son  who  comes  to  our  borders.  He  comes  direct 
from  the  kingdom  where  this  entertainment  is  to  be 
given,  and  where  he  has  been  a  resident,  not  alone 
from  time  immemorial,  but  from  immemorial  eter- 
nity. He  is  familiar  with  all  the  counsels  there ; 
he  knows,  for  he  has  made  the  arrangements 
which  concern  all  present  and  future  inhabitants  of 
that  world.  Listen  to  him  :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  thee.  We  speak  that  we  know,  and  testify  that 
we  have  seen;"  "  That  ye  may  eat  at  my  table, 
in  my  kingdom ;"  "  And  I  say  unto  you  that  many 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  shall  sit 
down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  This  is  not  an  invitation  ;  it 
is  a  proclamation :  '*  Many  shall  come."  The  feast 
is  to  take  place  ;  many  will  be  there.  No  disease, 
no  disaster  by  fire  or  flood,  will  prevent  that  mar- 
riage-feast, or  delay  one  of  the  destined  guests. 
9 


98  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

*'  These  are  the  true  sayings  of  God."  And  •^•vhat 
is  the  simple  thought  couched  under  this  figure  of 
reclining  at  Christ's  table,  in  his  kingdom  ?  What, 
but  this,  that  life  in  heaven  is  social,  and  that 
saints  are  not  isolated ;  that  enjoyments  are  com 
mon  ?  "He  hath  prepared  for  them  a  city." 
"  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple."  It  is 
"  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first- 
born."    "  And  they  sing  as  it  v^ere  a  new  song." 

And  who  will  be  there  ?  Who  are  to  consti- 
tute the  guests  in  Christ's  kingdom,  contributing 
and  sharing  each  a  portion  of  those  high  social 
delights  ? 

That  gathering  will  embrace  Abel,  Enoch  and 
Noah,  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  Joseph,  Moses 
and  Joshua,  Samuel,  David  and  Josiah,  Isaiah  and  all 
the  prophets,  John  the  Baptist  and  the  evangelists, 
Stephen  and  the  whole  glorious  army  of  martyrs. 
Who  shall  undertake  to  estimate  the  pleasure  and 
profit  of  conversing  freely  with  him  who  was  the 
first  to  enter  heaven ;  with  him,  who,  in  the  midst 
of  antediluvian  giants,  walked  with  God ;  with 
him  who  passed  out  of  the  ark  on  Mount  Ararat, 
built  the  first  altar  in  the  solitude  of  a  depopulated 
world,  and  gazed  on  its  first  bow  of  promise  ;  with 


THE  HEAVENLY  BANQUET.        99 

liim  who  built  an  altar  on  Mount  Moriah,  and  with 
him  who  was  laid  an  offering  thereon ;  with  him 
who  put  off  his  shoes  on  Sinai,  and  forty  days  and 
forty  nights  spake  familiarly  with  God,  in  the  thick 
cloud  that  was  on  the  mount  ?  0,  what  will  be  the 
luxury  of  listening  to  the  sweet  psalmist  of  Israel, 
as  he  strikes  his  heavenly  lyre ;  of  sitting  down 
under  the  tuition,  successively,  of  all  those  holy 
men  of  old  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost !  What  rapture  must  there  be  in  talk- 
ing with  those  who  had  the  gift  of  tongues,  who 
wrought  many  miracles,  and  —  what  is  far  more 
memorable  —  went  everywhere,  in  the  midst  of 
perils  and  reproaches,  as  the  first  ambassadors  for 
Christ !  What  shall  I  say  more  ?  *'  For  the  time 
would  fail  me  to  tell  of  Gideon,  and  of  Barak,  and 
of  Samson,  and  of  Jephthah,  of  David  also,  and 
Samuel,  and  of  the  prophets ;  who  through  faith 
subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained 
promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the 
violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  out 
of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in 
fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens/' 
Yet  was  it  ordered  that  they,  without  us,  should 
not  be  made  perfect.  Our  presence  at  that  table 
«\^as  wanting.     One  reason  why  they  were  called  to 


100  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

endure  what  they  did  for  the  cause  of  truth  and 
righteousness  was,  that  they  might  in  heaven  have 
the  higher  satisfaction  of  recounting  to  us  and 
others  what  was  done  through  them  for  the  glory 
of  God.  Our  happiness  and  theirs  would  want 
somewhat  of  its  fulness  but  for  that  recital,  which 
will  never  be  exhausted. 

That  banqueting  assembly  is  not,  however,  lim- 
ited to  Scripture  worthies.  It  embraces  multi- 
tudes from  subsequent  times.  There  sit  Ignatius 
and  Polycarp,  Augustine  and  Chrysostom,  Athana- 
sius  and  Bazil.  Around  that  board  are  gathered 
the  mighty  army  of  Protestant  reformers,  the  chief 
fathers  of  New  England  and  Old  England,  and  the 
renowned  champions  for  truth  and  holiness  from  aU 
countries  and  all  centuries  of  the  Christian  era. 
Who  will  not  esteem  heaven  a  more  desirable  place 
because  John  Howe  and  John  Owen  are  there  ; 
because  Usher  and  Leighton,  Wesley  and  Whit- 
field, Eliot  and  Brainard  are  there  ?  Who  will  not 
esteem  it  peculiar  happiness  to  associate  with  one 
who  discoursed  so  fully  on  the  Saints'  Everlasting 
Rest,  and  with  one  whose  sweet  strains  are  sung 
Sabbath  after  Sabbath  by  thousands  of  assemblies 
on  earth  ?  Who  will  not  be  rejoiced  at  such  an 
interview  with  that  ingenious  dreamer  who  immor- 


THE  HEAVENLY  BANQUET.       lUl 

talized  Bedford  jail,  and  whose  pilgrim  has  gone 
forth  over  all  the  earth  ? 

The  stars  of  that  firmament,  however,  are  not  all 
of  the  first  magnitude  ;  nor  is  the  surface  of  the 
earth  made  up  wholly  of  mountains.  There  is  far 
more  of  undistinguished  level.  Our  religious  in- 
terests and  our  heavenly  anticipations  may  not  be 
limited  only  to  those  known  to  fame,  any  more 
than  to  our  kindred  after  the  flesh,  or  our  personal 
acquaintance.  There  is,  indeed,  an  important  sense 
in  which  all  mankind  are  our  brethren.  We  speak, 
to  be  sure,  of  heathen  nations  as  benighted.  We 
think  of  them  as  removed  further  from  us  in  moral 
character  than  in  space.  In  regard  to  most  of  them 
we  understand  very  imperfectly  the  depth  of  their 
degradation.  Comparatively  elevated,  we  are,  by 
this  very  goodness  of  God,  made  in  a  sense  inca- 
pable of  realizing  how  corrupt  they  are.  Still, 
however  brutish,  they  are  not  brutes.  They  do  not 
belong  to  a  different  species.  God  hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth.  We  talk  about  the  European, 
the  African,  and  other  races,  but  do  they  not  all 
belong  alike  to  the  human  race  ?  Whatever  varie- 
ties of  complexion  and  social  condition  there  may 
be,  ''we  are  all  one  man's  sons.''  A  family  like 
9* 


102  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

ness  pervades  all.  We  all  stand  at  an  equal  remove 
from  him  who  was  expelled  from  Paradise.  Yes, 
and  some  of  those  lowest  in  the  scale,  and  with 
fewest  social  attractions,  are  called  to  our  Lord's 
table,  in  his  kingdom.  They  come  in  from  the 
highways  and  hedges.  The  vast  majority  of  those 
sitting  down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
were  comparatively  obscure  on  earth.  *'  And  they 
sung  a  new  song,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy  to  take 
the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof ;  for  thou 
wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy 
blood,  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue,  and  people 
and  nation,  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God,  kings 
and  priests.'' 

And  how  many  will  be  there  ?  "A  great  mul- 
titude, which  no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations, 
and  kindreds,  and  tongues."  Even  in  ancient 
times,  and  when  the  church  was  confined  to  a  sin- 
gle nation,  a  nation  by  no  means  the  largest,  and  at 
a  period  of  extreme  degeneracy,  there  were  seven 
thousand  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  On 
the  single  day  of  Pentecost,  three  thousand  signi- 
fied their  acceptance  of  the  Gospel  offer ;  and  the 
time  is  predicted  when  a  nation  shall  be  born  at 
once.  ''  The  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousands  of  his 
saints."     It  is  estimated  that  already,  within   the 


THE    HEAVENLY    BANQUET.  103 

Christian  era,  more  than  fifty  thousand  millions  of 
human  beings  have  died.  As  to  how  many  of  these 
were  nominally  Christian  we  attempt  no  conjecture ; 
nor  how  many  of  the  latter  were  really  such  ;  but 
admitting  that  even  of  those  connected  with 
churches  many  will,  at  last,  cry  ''  Lord,  Lord ! ''  to 
whom  he  will  reply,  "  I.  never  knew  you  ;  ''  admit- 
ting the  proportion  of  such  to  be  the  same  as  in  the 
original  twelve  chosen  by  Christ,  or  as  high,  even, 
as  the  parable  of  the  virgins  may  indicate,  we  must 
still  believe  that  millions  have  already  passed  into 
glory,  and  that,  when  the  remainder  of  the  elect 
shall  have  been  gathered  in,  the  host  will  be  incon- 
ceivably great.  No  want  of  guests  will  there  be 
at  that  marriage  supper.  We  hear  of  festivals  here 
on  earth,  where  thousands  assemble.  We  read  of 
millions  in  the  army  of  Xerxes ;  but  the  greatest 
throng  ever  thus  gathered  together  are  only  the 
small  dust  of  the  balance  to  that  host  which  ''  shall 
return  and  come  to  Zion,  with  songs  and  everlast- 
ing joy  upon  their  heads.'' 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  vastness  of  that 
afisemblage,  individuality  is  unimpaired.  Peter, 
John  and  Paul,  are,  perhaps,  as  unlike  now  as 
when  on  earth.  The  identity  of  Matthew,  Mark 
and  Luke,  is  undisturbed.     Apollos  and  Sylvanus, 


104  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Aqaila  and  Priscilla,  have  lost  none  of  their  per- 
sonality. Jeremiah  is  as  truly  Jeremiah  as  when 
he  was  in  prison ;  Elijah  as  truly  Ehjah  as  when 
he  mounted  the  chariot  of  fire.  No  one  will  ever 
be  merged  in  another.  The  number  there  is  not 
greater  than  the  variety  of  individual  character  and 
experience.  All  harmonizing,  each  has  a  tone  of 
his  own  in  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb  ;  and 
if  one  voice  were  withdrawn,  that  glorious  anthem 
would  be  less  perfect  than  it  is.  Each  guest  at 
that  table  will  furnish  something  which  no  one  else 
could,  for  the  instruction  and  entertainment  of  every 
other. 

Let  it  not  be  once  imagined  that  variety  and 
multitude  will  there  distract.  The  capacity  for 
social  acquaintance  and  enjoyment  must  increase 
proportionately  with  the  general  advancement  of 
the  soul.  Terrestrial  analogies  favor  this  supposi- 
tion. Among  the  lower  tribes  the  social  disposition 
is,  for  the  most  part,  measured  by  their  useful  or 
harmless  character.  The  lion  and  the  eagle  are  not 
gregarious.  And  this  instinct  is  not  modified  by 
the  lapse  of  time.  The  bee  is  no  more  gregarious 
now  than  six  thousand  years  ago.  Among  men, 
too,  the  social  appetite  is,  in  a  measure,  propor- 
Uonate  to  mental  improvement  and  moral  worth. 


THE  BEAVENLY  BANQUET.       105 

Larger  societies  can  exist  only  where  progress  has 
been  made  in  civilization.  We  read  of  savage 
hordes,  not  empires.  It  is  fair,  then,  to  infer  that 
in  heaven  the  delight  and  profit  of  celestial  acquaint- 
ance will  forever  increase. 

It  should  be  observed,  too,  that  numbers,  in  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  form  no  bar  to  homogeneous- 
ness. 

Their  earthly  probation  finished,  all  the  children 
of  God  wiU  be  consolidated  with  angels  into  one 
commonwealth.  Our  earth  to-day  has  no  commu- 
nity so  widely  diffused,  so  diversified  in  character, 
and  yet  so  indissolubly  bound  together,  as  the  church 
of  Christ.  However  separated  by  mountains  and 
oceans,  by  varieties  of  climate,  by  habit,  dialect  or 
mental  culture,  there  is  an  invisible  bond  of  sympa- 
thy, which  nothing  else  can  imitate.  On  points  of 
comparative  unimportance  they  may  argue ;  in 
denominational  concerns  there  may  be  occasional 
friction  ;  or  from  remoteness  they  may  never  have 
heard  of  one  another;  stiU,  let  the  lineaments  of 
the  divine  image  be  mutually  apparent  in  any  two 
human  beings,  they  recognize  each  other  at  once 
•as  brethren.  So  will  it  be,  only  a  hundred-fold 
more  marked,  in  heaven.  Jew  or  Gentile,  Ethio- 
pian or  Saxon,  bond  or  free,  beggar  or  monarch,  in 


106  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

sackcloth  or  in  ermine,  they  belong  to  the  same 
general  assembly,  they  sit  side  by  side  at  the  same 
table.  With  one  impulse  will  they  sing,  "  Behold, 
how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity ! "  "As  the  dew  of  Hermon, 
as  the  dew  that  descended  upon  the  mountains  of 
Zion,  for  there  the  Lord  commanded  the  blessing, 
even  life  for  evermore."  All  that  is  essential  in 
their  views  and  emotions  is  the  same  ;  the  process 
of  initiation  into  Christ's  kingdom,  and  the  objects 
a,nd  emotions  of  worship  and  enjoyment,  are  the 
same.  "  There  is  one  body  and  one  spirit,  as  ye 
are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ;  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  baptism  ;  one  God  and  Father  of  all, 
who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all.'* 

Professed  disciple,  do  you  believe  all  this  ?  Do 
you  believe  that  a  few  days  hence,  ''  when  this  cor- 
ruptible shall  have  put  on  incorruption,"  you  will 
find  yourself  in  the  midst  of  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand  saints,  joining  with  all  your  ransomed 
powers  in  the  song,  ''  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain,  to  receive  riches,  and  honor,  and  power,  and 
glory,  and  blessing  ? ''  Why,  then,  so  absorbed  in  the 
society  of  earth  ?  Why  such  feeble  efforts  to  per- 
suade others  to  share  these  high  privileges  ?  Does 
this  evince  citizenship  in  the  New  Jerusalem ;    a 


THE    HEAVENLY    BANQUET.  107 

wedding  garment  for  that  feast  ?  Even  if  it  were 
so,  can  you  be  content  that  no  more  should  be  gath- 
ered to  that  table  of  high  and  holy  fellowship  ? 
Would  you  monopolize  the  bliss  of  heaven  ?  Have 
you  no  heart  to  say  to  each  of  the  impenitent  near 
you,  and  to  the  perishing  afar  off,  Come  thou  with 
us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good  ? 

Professed  disciple,  do  you  really  believe  there  is 
a  heaven ;  and  that  such  society  is  there  ?  Is  it 
your  settled  expectation  to  join  it  ?  Are  you  firmly 
convinced  that  with  your  own  eyes  you  are  soon  to 
see  those  patriarchs  and  apostles,  yea,  the  whole  of 
the  redeemed  ;  that  with  your  own  ears  you  are  to 
hear  them  discourse  from  the  accumulated  treasures 
of  their  wisdom ;  aye,  side  by  side  to  sit  down 
with  them,  and  eye  to  eye  to  commune  with  saints 
whom  scores  of  centuries  have  rendered  venerable  ? 
Do  you  believe  that  you  will  shortly  be  talking  at 
Christ's  table,  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ; 
with  John,  Peter,  and  Paul ;  with  your  former 
pastors,  and  Christian  friends  ?  Are  you  truly  ex- 
pecting to  see  those,  now  members  of  the  same 
church  with  you,  in  glory  ?  Why  then  that  coldness 
toward  them  ?  Why  such  constant,  or  even  frequent 
absence  from  the  place  of  social  prayer  ?  Why,  too, 
so  many  hard  speeches  about  them  ?     Here  is  one 


108  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

with  whom  you  expect  to  spend  eternity ;  you  think 
that  heaven  will  be  the  happier  for  his  presence ;. 
yet  do  you  deal  out  sarcasm  and  innuendoes ;  or 
speak  in  a  humorous  or  censorious  strain  at  the  ex- 
pense of  one  who  equally  with  yourself  belongs  to 
the  body  of  Christ,  and  is  as  fair  a  candidate  for  a 
place  among  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

Christian  friend,  give  up  evil-speaking,  or  give 
up  talking  about  heaven.  "By  this,''  so  saith  the 
blessed  Saviour,  "  by  this  shall  all  men  know  that 
ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN. 

Who  are  they  whose  little  feet, 

Pacing  life's  dark  journey  through, 
Now  have  reached  that  heavenly  seat 

They  had  ever  kept  in  view  ? 
"  I  from  Greenland's  frozen  land  ;" 

"  I  from  India's  sultry  plain  ;" 
"  I  from  Afric's  barren  sand  ;" 

"  I  from  islands  of  the  main." 

"  All  our  earthly  journey  past, 
Every  tear  and  pain  gone  by, 
Here  together  met  at  last 

At  the  portals  of  the  sky  : 
Each  the  welcome  *  Come  '  awaits, 
Conquerors  over  death  and  sin  !" 
lift  your  heads,  ye  golden  gates. 
Let  the  little  travellers  in. 

Edmenston. 

*'  He  is  dead !  "  The  last  breath  is  drawn.  A 
convulsive  movement  passed  through  that  little 
frame,  and  all  is  still.  "  He  is  dead."  0,  will  that 
sweet  smile  never  come  back?  Will  those  tiny 
hands  never  move  softly  over  a  mother's  face  again  '^ 
Is  the  fond  father  to  share  in  those  seasons  of  glee, 
those  little  ecstasies,  no  more  ? 
10 


110  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

No ;  the  Lord  struck  the  child,  and  the  rose 
faded  from  his  cheek,  and  the  lustre  from  his  eye  ; 
his  sunny  smile  has  given  place  to  a  look  of  distress, 
and  his  sweet  carol  to  sharp  cries,  fading  into  feeble 
moans. 

"  The  Lord  struck  the  child,"  and  "it  was  very 
sick.'*  All  was  anxiety  in  the  palace ;  servants  stepped 
lightly  over  the  pavements,  and  moved  in  silence 
along  the  corridors  ;  the  fountain  in  the  court  could 
be  heard  in  the  little  sufferer's  room,  but  it  brought 
him  small  relief.  It  was  unheeded  by  the  weeping 
father.  ''David  fasted,  and  went  in,  and  lay  all 
night  upon  the  earth."  A  touching  spectacle  it 
was,  to  see  that  *'  man  of  war," —  he  who  in  youthful 
prowess  smote  the  lion  and  the  bear,  who  single- 
handed  laid  Goliath  in  the  dust,  who  had  mingled 
undaunted  in  so  many  fierce  encounters,  and  brought 
home  trophies  from  so  many  strongholds, — now  bow- 
ing down  under  the  pressure  of  domestic  grief. 
God  has  smitten  the  child  ;  he  is  smiting  the  father, 
and  in  deep  contrition  David  fasts,  and  weeps,  and 
prays. 

The  king's  recovery  to  cheerfulness  was  as  strik- 
ing as  his  grief.  It  marked  him  as  a  true  penitent, 
to  whom,  notwithstanding  his  sin  and  shame,  the 
joys  of  salvation  were  again  restored.     Particularly 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  Ill 

memorable  are  the  words,  ''  I  shall  go  to  him/'  for 
they  point  us  to  his  assurance  of  the  child's  salva- 
tion, and  suggest  the  inquiry,  Where  do  those  go 
■who  die  in  infancy  ?  The  question  has  been 
variously  answered.  Some  have  maintained  that 
they  cease  to  exist,  like  the  beasts  that  perish.  By 
others,  it  has  been  held  that  a  part  are  saved,  and  a 
part  are  lost ;  —  the  Romish  and  similar  corrupt 
churches  affirming  that  baptized  infants  alone 
are  saved,  the  rest  being  doomed  to  outer  dark- 
ness ;  while  a  third  class  teach  that  all  dying  in 
infancy  are  saved. 

It  certainly  is  deserving  of  remark,  that  our  only 
authoritative  source  of  information  should  be  so 
silent  on  this  subject.  When  we  consider  the  pro- 
portion of  the  human  race  who  are  called  away  at 
an  early  period ;  when  we  reflect  upon  the  vast 
amount  of  parental  grief  thus  awakened,  and  the 
silent  inquiries  which  must  have  arisen  in  millions 
of  stricken  hearts  ;  at  first  thought  it  seems  strange 
that  Holy  Writ  should  shed  no  more  light  on  such  a 
question.  When,  however,  we  reflect,  that  the 
Author  of  the  Bible  never  steps  aside  to  gratify  hu- 
man curiosity  ;  that  the  welfare  of  departed  infants 
is  in  no  way  affected  by  its  contents  ;  and  that  the 
volume  addresses  itself  whoUy  to  those  who  are  no 


112  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

longer  infants ;  tke  omission  ceases  to  surprise  us. 
But  whatever  view  be  taken,  it  should  never  be  for- 
gotten that  the  tone  of  our  assertion  ought  to  be 
modified  by  the  absence  of  explicit  testimony. 

Thus  much,  however,  we  may  affirm  positively, 
that  no  infants  enter  heaven  on  the  ground  of  their 
own  fitness,  or  because  of  their  entire  freedom  from 
moral  taint.  This  cannot  be  the  case,  for  two 
reasons  :  such  is  not  their  character  ;  they  all  come 
into  the  world  with  a  corrupt  nature  inherited  from 
Adam,  —  a  disposition  to  evil,  which,  unchanged, 
disqualifies  for  heaven,  and  will  certainly  prompt 
to  sin.  The  word  of  God,  moreover,  does  not 
speak  of  any  taken  into  his  presence  above,  except 
those  who  are  cleansed  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  All 
infants,  therefore,  need  the  mediation  of  Christ 
and  the  renovation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  fit  them 
for  that  abode  of  holiness. 

It  occurs  then  to  ask  whether  reason  or  Scripture 
requires  a  limitation  of  the  grace  of  God  and  the 
application  of  the  atonement  to  a  part  only  of  those 
who  die  in  infancy?  For  aught  that  appears,  the 
salvation  of  all  infants  would  reflect  honor  upon  the 
attributes  of  God,  and  upon  the  work  of  the  Saviour 
and  Sanctifier  ;  and  the  lively  oracles,  instead  of  dis- 
counten?.ncing,  encourage  such  a  belief.     Must  not 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  113 

the  salvation  of  all  dying  so  early  make  it  most  con- 
spicuously apparent  that  where  sin  hath  abounded, 
there  grace  hath  much  more  abounded  ?     Do  any 
Scripture  representations  of  the  world  of  woe  inti 
mate  that  young  children  are  among  the  lost  ? 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  David  saying 
so  confidently,  "I  shall  go  to  him;"  and  again, 
"  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  hast 
thou  ordained  strength;''  when  we  find  our  Lord 
himself  quoting  this  to  the  chief  priests  and  scribes, 
as  they  were  annoyed  that  children  should  be  sing- 
ing, "  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David  ;''  and  most  of 
all,  when  we  hear  him  saying,  '*  Sufier  the  little 
children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for 
of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  (rod,"  we  are  led  to  hope, 
yes,  to  believe,  that  all  dying  in  infancy  are,  through 
the  atonement  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  regenerating 
power  of  the  Spirit,  adopted  by  the  Father  into  his 
family  above. 

Such  is  now  the  general  belief  of  Christendom, 
with  the  exception  of  some  of  its  corrupt  churches, 
as  the  Roman  Catholic,  whose  Council  of  Trent  de- 
crees, ''Whosoever  shall  af&rm  that  baptism  is  in- 
different, that  is,  not  necessary  to  salvation,  let  him 
be  accursed;'*  and  whose  catechism  teaches  that 
"  children,  be  their  parents  Christians  or  Infidels, 
10* 


114  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

unless  regenerated  by  the  grace  of  baptism,  are 
born  to  eternal  misery  and  everlasting  destruc- 
tion/' 

Much  the  same  was  held  by  Luther,  Melancthon, 
and  many  other  reformers,  and  had  been  held  for 
ages,, under  the  lead  of  Augustine,  who  was  called 
Durus  pater  infantium,  the  harsh  father  of  infants. 
The  Puseyitish  portion  of  the  Episcopal  church  still 
maintains  the  unscriptural  dogma  that  for  the  un- 
baptized  there  is  no  admission  into  heaven. 

So  far  as  known,  the  Swiss  reformer,  Zwingle, 
was  the  first  to  proclaim  the  hope  that  all  infants, 
whether  Christian  or  heathen,  who  die  before  they 
become  actual  transgressors,  are  saved  by  grace. 
But  it  was  John  Calvin,  whose  name  has  been  so 
widely  and  wickedly  abused,  to  whom  this  attract- 
ive doctrine  has  been  most  indebted  for  an  able  and 
scriptural  vindication.  It  is  men  such  as  Gill  and 
Kobert  Hall,  Toplady  and  Thomas  Scott,  firm,  out- 
spoken Calvinists,  who  have  done  most  service  to 
this  truth,  in  opposition  to  prelatical  exclusiveness  ; 
for  the  opposite  dogma  grows  chiefly  out  of  a  belief 
in  the  indispensable  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  of 
baptism.  It  is  not,  indeed,  the  sanction  of  unin- 
spired names  on  which  we  would  depend  for  the 
support  3f  this,  or  any  other  truth;  but  justice  to 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  115 

this  cl4.ss  of  theologians  required  that  a  wide-spread 
and  persistent  slander  should  be  contradicted. 

In  view  of  the  character  of  God,  the  priesthood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  slight  intimations  of  holy- 
writ,  we  may  rest  in  a  comfortable  assurance  that 
all  departed  infants  are  made  spiritually  and  forever 
alive;  that,  "As  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  ''  There  is  hiope  in  their 
end,  saith  the  Lord,  that  thy  children  shall  come 
again  to  their  own  border."  ''  Moreover,  your  little 
ones,  which  ye  said  should  be  a  prey,  and  your  chil- 
dren, which  in  that  day  had  no  knowledge  between 
good  and  evil,  they  shall  go  in  thither,  and  unto 
them  will  I  give  it,  and  they  shall  possess  it." 

Our  thoughts  mount  at  once,  delightfully  and 
gratefully,  to  our  Father's  house,  where  are  many 
mansions ;  and  we  understand  better  why  in  that 
blissful  abode  there  is  such  an  exceeding  great  mul- 
titude, which  no  man  can  number.  "  For  of  such  — 
of  such  more  numerously  than  all  others  —  is  the 
kingdom  of  God."  ''  These  were  redeemed  from 
among  men,  being  the  first-fruits  unto  God  and  the 
Lamb."  It  is  estimated  that,  of  all  born  into  this 
world,  one  half  leave  it  in  infancy.  If  such  be  the 
case,  then,  according  to  a  computation  which  makes 
the  whole  race  thus  far  to  number  twenty- eight 


116  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

thousand  millions,  there  would  be  at  this  moment 
fourteen  thoasand  millions  in  heaven  who  were 
infants  when  they  went  there.  Whatever  may  be 
theught  of  the  probable  correctness  of  this  estimate, 
the  field  thus  opened  for  joyful  contemplation  is 
immense,  and  as  enrapturing  as  immense.  How 
many  times  must  we  multiply  the  present  popula- 
tion of  our  globe  to  make  it  equal  the  host  which 
has  already  gone  to  the  regions  of  bliss !  How 
many  more  will  ac  last  be  found  to  be  saved  than 
lost !  How  will  the  glory  of  God  shine  in  the 
recovery  by  the  second  Adam,  so  much  more  ample 
than  the  ruin  by  the  first !  How  is  Satan  baffled 
in  his  most  malicious  plans,  and  our  Kedeemer 
divinely  victorious ! 

This  triumphant  foiling  of  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness has  a  peculiar  charm,  when  we  contemplate,  in 
addition  to  ordinary  early  deaths,  the  cases  of  those 
violently  destroyed.  Let  us  glance  at  some  of  the 
forms  and  cruel  facts  of  infanticide.  In  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew,  when  sixty  thousand 
French  Protestants  were  most  inhumanly  butch- 
ered, no  age  was  spared.  Children  were  involved 
with  parents  in  a  promiscuous  destruction.  The 
same  has  been  true  in  many  other  massacres  in- 
stigated or  sanctioned  by  the  hierarchy  of  Kome. 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  117 

In  the  Polynesian  islands,  before  the  subversion  of 
idolatry,  it  is  estimated  that  two-thirds  of  the  chil- 
dren were  put  to  death.  Missionaries  formerly  tes- 
tified that  they  did  not  know  a  mother  who  had  not 
also  been  a  murderer.  We  know  that  there  was  a 
similar  practice,  though  to  a  less  extent,  among  the 
ancient  Arabs,  the  northern  people  of  Europe,  and 
indeed  among  nearly  all  pagan  nations. 

Sir  George  Staunton  estimates  that  in  the  capital 
of  the  celestial  empire  two  thousand  female  chil- 
dren are  annually  destroyed.  Others  put  the  num- 
ber as  high  as  ten  thousand.  What,  then,  must  be 
the  whole  number  of  Chinese  children,  of  this  sex, 
who  perish  every  year,  from  the  neglect  or  violent 
hands  of  their  unnatural  parents  ?  And  why  is 
this  ?  Both  here,  and,  in  a  considerable  measure, 
among  other  nations  also,  it  proceeds  mainly  from  a 
diabolical  economy  —  from  the  wish  to  save  them- 
selves the  trouble  and  expense  of  rearing  children 
that  may  cost  them  more  than  they  will  bring  when 
sold  in  marriage.  Eather  than  abate  anything  from 
the  rites  of  their  expensive  superstition  they  will 
murder  their  own  offspring.  They  destroy  an  im- 
mortal being  with  less  compunction  than  they  tread 
up:n  a  bit  of  printed  paper. 

It  appears  there  is  a  sect  of  Hindoos  called  Raj- 


118  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

kusna,  near  Benares,  that  were  in  the  habit,  for- 
merly, of  destroying  all  their  female  children. 
Other  sects  in  the  same  neighborhood  were  simi- 
larly guilty,  though  to  a  less  extent.  The  military 
tribe  of  Jarejah  is  represented  to  have  practised 
the  same  exterminating  infanticide  for  more  than 
four  thousand  years.  Their  wives  they  procured 
from  other  tribes  not  addicted  to  this  monstrous 
custom.  In  the  peninsula  of  Guzerat  alone,  ac- 
cording to  one  computation  (though,  probably,  too 
high),  thirty  thousand  female  children  perished 
annually.  In  the  greater  part  of  that  region  the 
English  have  abolished  this  practice  ;  yet,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  when  they  began  they  were 
opposed  by  some  of  the  tribes  on  the  ground  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  usage.  Is  it  alleged  that  these  are 
exceptional  cases,  met  with  only  where  philosophy 
and  civilized  legislation  are  unknown  ?  —  that  men 
of  calm  reflection,  and  more  tender  sensibilities,  will 
not  be  found  countenancing  infant  murder  ?  Plato, 
in  his  model  republic,  taught  the  expediency  and 
lawfulness  of  exposing  children,  in  certain  cases. 
Aristotle  did  essentially  the  same,  and  other  philos- 
ophers, too,  by  their  silence,  and  more  than  by 
silencB. 

No  w,  it  must  be  thought  sufficiently  strange  that 


X 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  119 

the  dreadful  extremity  of  famine  should  have  led 
to  such  results  in  the  siege  of  Samaria  and  Jerusa- 
lem ;  we  regard  as  still  more  unpardonable  the 
exterminating  jealousy  of  Herod,  and  the  bigoted 
fury  of  French  and  other  Papists ;  the  instances 
in  which  this  has  been  sanctioned  by  legislators, 
and  countenanced  by  philosophers,  appeared,  per- 
haps, to  preclude  the  possibility  of  anything  more 
strange ;  but  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  summit 
of  this  dreadful  climax.  Children  have  been  ex- 
tensively destroyed  as  an  act  of  religion.  This  was 
common  among  the  Canaanitish  nations  and  the 
Phoenicians.  Hence,  God  repeatedly  warned  the 
children  of  Israel  against  this,  and  prohibited  it 
under  the  severest  penalties.  "  Thou  shalt  not  do 
so  unto  the  Lord  thy  God ;  for  even  their  sons 
and  their  daughters  they  have  burnt  in  the  fire  to 
their  gods.''  Notwithstanding  this,  in  later  times 
the  profligate  Ahaz  burnt  his  children  in  the  fire, 
after  the  abominations  of  the  heathen.  Manasseh, 
also,  caused  his  children  to  pass  through  the  fire  in 
the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom.  Their  idol,  Mo- 
loch, was  of  brass,  seated  on  a  brazen  throne,  and 
adorned  with  a  royal  crown.  When  they  offered 
children  to  him,  they  heated  the  statue  intensely 
hot,  and  then  placed  the  miserable  victim  within 


120  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  arms,  where  it  was  soon  consumed,  or  rolled 
into  a  burning  furnace  at  the  foot  of  the  statue. 
The  cries  of  the  victims  were  drowned  by  the  noise 
of  drums  and  trumpets.  Mothers  made  it  a  merit 
and  a  part  of  their  religion  to  view  this  horrid  sight 
without  a  single  sign  of  grief;  and  if  a  tear  or  a 
sigh  escaped  them  they  supposed  the  sacrifice  less 
acceptable,  if  not  utterly  inefficacious.  This  sav- 
age barbarity  was  carried  to  such  excess  that  even 
mothers  endeavored,  with  embraces  and  kisses,  to 
hush  the  cries  of  their  children,  in  order  to  propi- 
tiate the  god.  The  kings  of  Tyre,  in  times  of  dan- 
ger, used  to  sacrifice  their  sons  to  appease  the 
anger  of  their  gods ;  and  from  them  the  custom 
passed  to  the  Carthagenians."  In  times  of  pesti- 
lence it  was  their  custom  to  immolate  a  large  num- 
ber of  children.  Private  persons,  desirous  of  avert- 
ing any  great  calamity,  took  the  same  method, 
and  such  as  had  no  children  purchased  them  of 
the  poor,  in  order  that  they  might  not  be  deprived 
of  the  merit  of  such  a  sacrifice.  In  Peru  two  hun- 
dred children  were  annually  sacrified  for  the  health 
of  the  Inca.  At  Ganga  Sagor,  an  island  in  the 
mouth  of  the  Ganges,  hundreds  of  mothers,  during 
the  January  festival,  formerly  used  to  throw  their 
infants  into  the  turbid  waters ;  and  they  bewailed 


CHILDREN    IN    HEAVEN.  121 

the  sacrifice  as  unpropitious  if  the  sharks  did  not 
devour  their  offspring  before  their  eyes. 

"What  an  appalling  climax  is  that  through  whose 
gradations  of  heightening  horrors  such  a  detail  con- 
ducts us  !  Murder  merely  shocks  us,  but  the  mur- 
der of  children  is  another  thing.  Kevolting  enough 
when  starvation  is  its  apology,  it  is  much  more  so 
when  calculating  ambition  is  the  motive.  What 
shall  we  think  of  it  when  the  sanctity  of  law 
authorizes  it,  and  when  grave  philosophers  encour- 
age it  ?  One  instance  alone  in  all  history  should 
have  been  remembered  and  wept  over,  —  what, 
then,  are  we  to  say  of  the  wide-spread  and  habitual 
practice  ?  If  one  demoniac  father  had  done  it,  the 
deed  should  have  been  whispered,  with  a  faltering 
tongue,  to  the  end  of  time  ;  but  mothers,  countless 
mothers,  too,  have  been  thus  guilty.  Yet,  the  last 
thrill  of  horror  does  not  come  over  us  till  we  reach 
that  worst  of  all  —  the  superstitious  sacrifice  of  un- 
offending offspring. 

What  is  the  madness  that  has  seized  the  nations  ? 
What  direful  spirit  has  de-humanized  such  exten- 
sive portions  of  our  race  ?  What  is  that  unseen 
and  deadly  agency,  that  has  been  at  work  to  turn 
the  brain  and  cauterize  the  heart  of  so  many  moth- 
ers ?  Or  has  the  world  been  peopled  by  demons 
11 


122  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

in  human  form  ?  All !  those  unnatura.  fathers  and 
mothers  are  of  the  same  descent  with  ourselves. 
Those  perpetrators  of  an  economical  or  a  religious 
infanticide  are  our  brethren,  members  of  the  same 
great  family.  Their  heart  is  no  more  callous  by 
nature  than  our  own.  But  Paganism,  under  the 
control  of  Satan,  has  made  them  what  we  see  them. 
That  is  the  madness,  the  mighty  and  malign 
agency,  that  has  nerved  them  for  such  deeds. 

But  glory  to  God  in  the  highest  for  the  discom- 
fiture herein  of  the  great  adversary !  Offered  to 
Moloch,  those  children,  we  humbly  trust,  ascended 
to  Jesus,  —  from  the  heated  arms  of  a  brazen  image 
to  the  gentle  embrace  of  Christ  in  Paradise.  "And 
he  took  them  in  his  arms,  and  laid  his  hands  upon 
them,  and  blessed  them ;''  and  to  the  baffled,  roar- 
ing lion  who  had  sought  to  devour  them,  he  said, 
"Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God.'*  Alas,  for 
Herod  !  not  for  the  martyrs  of  Bethlehem  ;  alas,  for 
persecuting  pontiffs  and  monarchs !  not  for  their 
infant  victims ;  alas,  for  the  mother  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges !  not  for  her  offspring  afloat  on  its 
waters; — alas,  for  them,  that  they  did  not  them- 
selves perish  in  earliest  infancy  !  "  Is  it  well  with 
the  child  ?  It  is  well.''  "  I  shall  go  to  him  ;''  and 
I  shall  there  find  him  a  cherub,  his  voice  joining 


CHILDEEN    IN    HEAVEN.  123 

clear  and  sweet  in  the  choir  of  heaven ;  all  his 
earthly  beauty,  all  his  infant  loveliness,  ripened  into 
the  perfected  excellence  of  heaven. 

"Look  upward,  and  your  child  you'll  sec, 
Fixed  in  his  blest  abode; 
Who  would  not,  therefore,  childless  be, 
To  give  a  child  to  God?" 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SOCIETY      OF      ANGELS. 

To  ;ur  high-raised  phantasy  present 
That  undisturbed  song  of  pure  consent 
Aye  sung  "before  the  sapphire-colored  throne, 
To  him  that  sits  thereon, 

With  saintly  shout,  and  solemn  jubilee, 
Where  the  bright  seraphim,  in  burning  row. 
Their  loud,  uplifted  angel-trumpets  blow  ; 
And  the  cherubic  host,  in  thousand  choirs, 
Touch  their  immortal  harps  of  golden  wires, 
With  those  just  spirits  that  wear  victorious  palms, 
Hymns  devout  and  holy  psalms 

Singing  everlastingly. 

Milton. 

Sadducean  scepticism  has  characterized  a  consid- 
erable class  in  almost  every  cultivated  community. 
There  have  always  been  men  of  such  gross  igno- 
rance, such  debased  morals,  or  such  vain  philosophy, 
as  to  have  either  no  belief  or  no  interest  in  things 
unseen  and  eternal.  Where  this  indifference  is 
general,  many  will  be  found  having  no  distinct  idea 
in  regard  to  the  existence  of  angels.  No  wonder 
that  all  who  doubt,  or  who  seldom  contemplate,  the 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS.  125 

government  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  should  more  than 
doubt  the  existence  of  his  invisible  ministers.  Just 
in  proportion,  however,  as  we  are  persuaded  of  the 
being  and  superintendence  of  the  God  of  Sabaoth, 
shall  we  be  ready  to  admit  the  existence  and  agency 
of  his  exalted  servants.  As  we  regard  the  king,  so 
do  we  treat  the  ambassador. 

And  is  not  the  innumerable  company  of  angels 
worthy  of  at  least  an  occasional  thought  ?  Is  there 
not,  in  such  an  order  of  intelligences,  reason  enough 
why  we  should  give  to  them  a  measure  of  contem- 
plation ?  They  are  spirits,  unencumbered  with  such 
sluggish  vehicles  as  these  bodies,  but  like  winds  and 
flames  of  fire  ;  yea,  like  the  lightning,  they  dart 
wherever  the  will  of  God  points  the  way.  With 
greater  ease  and  speed  than  we  pass  from  hoiase  to 
house,  they  go  from  world  to  world.  From  the 
most  distant  and  arduous  undertakings,  moreover, 
they  return  unwearied,  as  they  went.  Exhaustion, 
decay,  old  age,  are  to  them  unknown.  They  are 
immortalized  in  an  ever-invigorated  manhood.  But 
are  there  not  important  relations  between  the  peo- 
ple of  God  who  are  seeking  the  Better  Land  and 
these  his  exalted  servants  ?  Is  there  not  to  be 
joyful  converse  between  redeemed  saints  and  the 
countless  throng  of  angels  ? 
11* 


126  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

If  we  had  no  direct  authority  for  it,  we  might 
reasonably  infer  that  heaven  is  an  immensely  popu- 
lous place.  Our  world,  insignificant  as  it  is,  com- 
pared with  the  rest  of  the  universe,  is  supplied  with 
an  incalculable  population.  The  air  and  water  teem 
with  unnumbered  multitudes.  But  while  unaided  vis- 
ion shows  us  more  than  we  can  count,  the  microscope 
astonishes  us  by  the  new  wonders  of  life  which  it  re- 
veals. Of  the  human  family,  for  thousands  of  years, 
millions  on  millions  have  successively  passed  to  the 
grave.  Is,  then,  this  world  so  replete  with  animate 
existences,  and  shaU  there  be  solitudes  in  the  celes- 
tial world  ?  If,  as  is  likely,  angels  are  the  commis- 
sioned agents  of  Jehovah,  in  all  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse, what  must  be  the  number  of  that  host  who 
are  scattered  abroad  among  worlds  so  numerous  as 
to  baffle  all  calculation  ?  "Who  shall  undertake  the 
census  ?  The  Bible  fully  confirms  the  intimations 
of  analogy.  "  The  host  of  heaven,''  "the  multi- 
tude of  the  heavenly  host,"  are  spoken  of.  When 
the  Psalmist  declares,  ''  The  chariots  of  God  are 
twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels ;"  when 
to  Judas  and  his  company  the  Saviour  intimated 
that  "  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  "  were 
at  his  bidding  ;  when  Daniel  saw  the  Ancient  of 
Days,   and   that   "  thousand  thousands   ministered 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS.  127 

unto-  him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
stood  before  him;''  and  when,  in  the  Apocalypse, 
John  beheld  the  same,  —  they  employed  a  high 
specific  number  for  one  indefinitely  great ;  and  the 
expressions,  in  each  instance,  are  tantamount  to 
*'  an  innumerable  company  of  angels."  Though 
only  two  individual  names  —  Michael  and  Gabriel 
—  are  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  we  shall  doubtless, 
in  due  time,  hear  the  whole  catalogue,  the  almost 
countless  roll  of  the  celestial  army.  And  will  not 
acquaintance  with  such  a  multitude  furnish  en- 
nobling occupation  for  everlasting  ages  ? 

The  gradation  that  is  everywhere  observable  in 
our  world  would  lead  us  also  to  infer  the  same  in 
heaven.  In  the  vegetable  kingdom  there  are  obvi- 
ous traces  of  it.  In  the  animal  kingdom,  com 
mencing  with  the  lowest  specimen  of  organization 
we  trace,  without  interruption,  an  ascending  scale, 
tiU  we  come  to  that  body  which  is  ''fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made."  And  what  is  human  society 
but  an  adjustment  of  classes,  varying  extremely  in 
position  and  influence  ?  It  is  not  to  be  supposed, 
then,  that  in  a  community  so  vast  as  that  of  angels 
there  should  be  no  subordination  of  rank,  and  no 
important  differences  in  intelligence  and  moral 
worth.     All  known  phenomena,  which  can  be  re- 


128  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

garded  as  furnishing  any  analogy,  lead  us  to  suppose 
that  th>3re  is  an  unbroken  gradation,  from  the  hum- 
blest member  of  that  society,  through  rank  after 
rank,  inconceivably  various,  and  evermore  rising  to 
the  head  of  created  intelligences  —  that  lofty  posi- 
tion being  occupied  by  the  archangel,  who  stands 
nearest  the  throne,  the  prime  minister  of  Jehovah. 

Scripture  intimates  that  such  is  the  case  in  the 
celestial  hierarchy.  We  read  of  "thrones,  domin- 
ions, principalities,  and  authorities,'*  in  the  heavens. 
The  angel  which  appeared  to  Zacharias  said,  "I  am 
Gabriel,  that  stand  in  the  presence  of  God."  Mi- 
chael is  called  "  one  of  the  chief  princes,"  —  ''  the 
great  prince."  We  read,  too,  of  ''  Michael  and 
his  angels,"  which  implies  subordination.  We 
gather,  therefore,  that  among  angels  there  are  dif- 
ferent classes,  and  different  degrees  of  authority 
and  importance  of  station.  Now,  what  must  be 
the  effect  of  association  with  an  order  of  beings  so 
diversified,  numerous,  pure,  and  exalted  ?  What 
must  result  from  the  interaction  of  all  the  faculties 
of  the  soul,  under  such  varied  and  powerful  influ- 
ences ?  —  what  but  the  most  rapid  advancement  in 
knowledge,  holiness,  and  bliss  ? 

And  what  are  the  subjects  of  converse  between 
angels  and  saints  in  glory  ?     In  part,  we  may  be- 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS  129 

lieve,  the  great  epocV.3  in  the  divine  administra- 
tion. Angels  had,  as  we  apprehend,  not  only  an 
antediluvian,  but  an  ante-mundane  existence,  and 
hence  may  have  much  to  relate  of  what  took  place 
before  God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life. 
But  certain  we  are  that,  when  the  foundations 
of  the  earth  were  fastened,  and  the  corner-stone 
thereof  laid,  "  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.'*  From 
eternity  this  quarter,  at  least,  of  the  universe  had 
been  a  waste ;  and  those  celestial  couriers  may 
relate  to  us  how,  in  passing  and  repassing  it, 
they  had  been  cheered  by  no  traces  of  divine 
power  and  wisdom  ;  and  how,  upon  a  sudden,  God 
spake  the  creating  word,  and  there  sprang  up  a 
system,  most  attractive  for  its  order  and  beauty ; 
and  they,  the  delighted  spectators,  gave  forth  a 
shout  of  praise.  As  the  greater  and  lesser  lights 
assumed  their  posts,  as  the  earth  began  to  revolve 
and  exhibit  its  diversified  scenes  of  land  and  water, 
of  rugged  hill  and  fruitful  vale,  the  angels  saw 
that  a  new  tract  of  space,  before  desolate,  was  now 
replete  with  the  displays  of  the  glory  of  God.  A 
new  field  of  study  was  opened  before  them.  To 
wat(h  the  motions,  to  trace  the  design  and  adapta- 
tion cf  the  various  parts,  furnished  new  material  for 


130  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

thought  and  holy  admiration,  —  all  which  we  may 
hear  rehearsed  in  order,  mingled  with  the  notes  of 
that  song  with  which  they  hailed  the  morning  of 
creation. 

Four  thousand  years  later,  there  was  another 
occasion  of  angelic  jubilee  connected  with  our  world; 
and  will  they  not  tell  us  how  they  felt,  when,  upon 
the  announcement  of  Immanuel's  advent,  a  multi- 
tude of  their  heavenly  host  sang  praises  to  God  in 
the  highest  ?  Will  they  not  repeat  to  us  with  what 
increasing  admiration  they  had  become  more  and 
more  familiar  with  the  great  design  for  which  this 
world  was  made  ;  and  how  their  wonder  heightened 
as  they  saw  the  new  dispensation  open,  and  beheld 
the  life  and  crucifixion  of  the  incarnate  Son,  —  an 
event  to  which  even  the  annals  of  heaven  afford  no 
parallel  ? 

But  there  is  one  event,  common  to  all  times,  and 
restricted  to  no  country,  which  affords  delight  to 
the  angels  in  heaven,  and  concerning  which  there 
will  doubtless  be  abundant  converse  between  them 
and  their  fellow-citizens  from  earth.  And  what  is 
it  that  fills  with  joy,  not  merely  a  detachment,  while 
reconnoitering  some  occurrence  on  earth,  but  the 
entire  host  in  heaven  itself?  Is  it  the  discovery 
of  a  new  continent,  or  of  treasures  in  the  depths 


SOCIETY     OP    ANGELS.  131 

of  the  earth  ?  Is  it  the  news  that  one  army  has 
overwhelmed  another  ?  Do  they  have  illuminations 
in  heaven  when  one  portion  of  the  human  family 
succeeds  in  slaughtering  another  ?  Is  it  the  coro- 
nation of  a  monarch,  the  inauguration  of  a  presi- 
dent?—  the  anniversary  of  national  freedom?  —  a 
new  triumph  of  science  or  art  ?  What  is  it,  of  all 
the  pageants  or  gala  days  of  earth,  that  is  simultane- 
ously observed  in  heaven  ?  *'  I  say  unto  you,  there 
is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth."  That  is  the  grand  discov- 
ery, the  victory,  the  acquisition,  which  calls  for 
a  jubilee.  It  is  the  birthday  of  an  immortal 
spirit,  —  the  day  which  ushers  a  bondman  of  Satan 
into  the  kingdom  of  God,  constituting  him  heir  to 
a  crown  of  glory  and  an  everlasting  inheritance. 
In  the  circumstances  attending  that  event,  and  the 
results  that  follow,  how  exhaustless  the  themes  of 
discourse,  as  they  shall  recount  to  each  one  of  the 
multitude,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation,  more  than  he  ever  knew  before  ! 
And  how  will  the  everlasting  tide  of  bliss  go  on, 
swelling  higher  as  the  original  joy  wherewith  they 
rejoiced  over  each  is  renewed  and  augmented  at 
every  such  recital !  Time  would  fail  to  speak  of 
the  angelic  narratives  of  friendly  interpositions  in 


132  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

behalf  of  God's  children  on  earth.  Such  attend 
ance  must  prepare  the  way  for  a  peculiarly  intimate 
and  joyful  fellowship.  If  they  are  sent  forth  to 
minister  unto  them  that  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation ; 
if,  in  visiting  earth,  some  have  showed  themselves 
in  \dsions  and  dreams,  as  to  Jacob  and  Zachariah, 
to  Joseph  and  Cornelius  ;  if,  also,  they  have  pre- 
sented themselves  to  others  whose  senses  were  com- 
pletely awake  ;  if,  as  a  convoy,  they  bear  departing 
spirits  to  Abraham's  bosom,  are  we  not  more  than 
authorized  to  believe  that  there  is  intercourse  be- 
tween them  and  departed  spirits  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem ?  That  city  is  their  peculiar  residence.  As 
swift  messengers,  they  indeed  traverse  the  vast 
empire  of  Jehovah  ;  as  temporary  watchmen,  they 
linger  on  the  outposts  of  his  dominion ;  yet  heaven 
is  their  home.  There  is  the  food  of  angels.  There 
is  the  centre  of  that  family  to  which  they  belong, 
and  with  whose  members  they  will  doubtless  be 
associated,  when  God  shall  have  gathered  together 
in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven 
and  which  are  in  earth. 

And  with  what  satisfaction  will  saints  find  them- 
selves united  with  that  holy  community,  forever 
associating  with  principalities  and  powers,  —  with 
cherubim  and  seraphim,  with  the  archangel,  before 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS.  1S3 

the  throne  !  It  was  not  easy  to  estimate  the  joy  of 
those  who  on  earth  experienced  the  friendly  inter- 
positions of  angels  encamped  round  about  them. 
Such  joy  was  that  of  the  only  pious  family  in 
Sodom,  when  rescued  from  the  fiery  storm  which 
overwhelmed  the  cities  of  the  plain ;  by  Abraham, 
when  pointed  to  a  substitute  for  his  son  on  the 
altar  ;  by  the  famishing  Elijah,  when  furnished  with 
food ;  by  Daniel,  in  his  preservation,  and  by  the 
apostles,  in  their  miraculous  deliverances.  Often 
have  angels  afforded  present  aid  and  given  assur- 
ances of  future  blessings.  Many  a  mother,  like 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  could  testify  to  this.  Thrice 
was  the  husband  of  Mary,  under  trying  circum- 
stances, directed  by  a  heavenly  messenger  what  to 
do.  Angels  were  present  to  moderate  the  surprise 
of  the  early  visitors  at  the  sepulchre  ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm,  an  angel  stood  by  Paul,  to 
cheer  and  strengthen  him.  With  what  joy,  then, 
will  these  individuals  recognize  their  deliverers  in 
glory  !  And  even  if  every  believer  has  not  a 
special  guardian  angel,  may  we  not  suppose  that 
each  will  long  to  know  to  what  angel,  in  what  ways, 
and  at  what  times,  he  has  been  indebted  for  succor? 
—  yea,  to  know  all  that  heavenly  army,  and  to 
hear,  from  their  own  lips,  by  what  means  and  with 
12 


134  THE    BETTER     LAKD. 

what  emotions  they  served  and  observed  the  church 
on  earth  ? 

How  will  growth  in  knowledge  thus  he  promoted  ! 
We  would  beware  of  ascribing  to  angels  a  degree  of 
intelligence  that  shall  rival  omniscience,  yet  when 
such  intellects,  with  memories  that  are  never  treach- 
erous, with  imaginations  that  never  beguile,  with 
judgments  never  prejudiced,  and  into  which  no  fal- 
lacies intrude  ;  when  such  intellects  have  expanded 
age  after  age,  to  what  gigantic  dimensions  must  they 
reach !  What  treasures  of  learning,  to  us  incon- 
ceivable, must  those  sleepless  students  have  amassed ! 
Fatigue  they  know  not.  All  eye,  all  ear,  century 
after  century  they  range  through  the  universe  . 
Never  detained  to  acquire  new  languages ;  never 
disheartened  by  misapplied  labor  ;  never  retarded  by 
sickness,  poverty,  or  incompetent  instruction,  they, 
observe  and  ponder,  they  analyze  and  discuss,  with 
unerring  acumen  and  immortal  energy.  And  their 
stores  are  forever  safe.  Old  age  cannot  touch  them; 
fire  never  reaches  the  city  of  God.  In  such  society, 
Avith  such  instructors,  what  must  be  the  progress  of 
the  redeemed  in  glory  ! 

A  like  advantage  must  also  be  realized  in  moral 
excellence.  The  studies  and  occupations  of  angels 
tend  to  confirm  their  obedience,  and  to  increase  their 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS.  135 

attainments  in  holiness.  Are  Christians  exhorted 
to  consider  the  end  of  their  conversation,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever? 
Are  they  exhorted  to  this  as  a  means  of  enlarging 
their  spiritual  knowledge,  and  invigorating  their  love 
of  virtue  ?  And  were  angels  intimately  acquainted 
with  that  same  being,  long  before  his  incarnation,  to 
no  purpose  ?  Did  they  minister  to  him,  while  he 
tabernacled  in  the  flesh  ;  did  they  attend  him  back 
to  their  abode  ;  have  they  since  been  bathing  in  the 
beams  of  his  glory,  and  have  they  imbibed  no  holy 
ardor,  no  celestial  vigor  ?  Have  not  their  errands 
to  this  world  indicated  a  profound  loyalty  to  their 
King,  and  at  the  same  time  been  fitted  to  increase 
it,  however  profound  before  ?  From  every  mission 
of  mercy  or  of  judgment  they  have  brought  back  a 
more  intense  zeal  in  his  service.  Unsullied  by  con- 
tact with  our  polluted  race,  uncontaminated  by 
wickedness  witnessed  here,  with  increased  alacrity 
have  they  spread  their  wings  for  heaven.  The  body 
of  death  has  never  encumbered  them.  Carnal  desires 
have  had  no  lodgment  in  their  hearts.  There  was 
no  need  that  they  should  be  washed  in  the  fountain 
opened  to  the  house  of  David,  and  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Jerusalem ;  but  they  have  bathed  for  ages 
in  the  river  of  the  water  of  life,  -cl^ar  as  crystal. 

OP  Ti 


136  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

What  then,  must  be  the  influence  of  such  society 
upon  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  ?  0,  how 
ennobling,  how  sanctifying !  Yes,  though  solitary 
and  downcast  now,  the  believing  wanderers  of  earth 
shall  soon  be  ushered  into  the  society  of  such  exalted 
beings.  Those  sublime  theologians  will  be  our  com- 
panions. Those  celestial  spirits,  who  have  drank  at 
no  earthly  springs,  but  at  the  fountain  of  eternal 
truth,  will  be  our  associates  in  the  holy  converse 
and  the  deep  studies  of  eternity. 

There,  too,  is  a  family  in  which  are  no  discords, 
a  community  in  which  are  no  feuds,  a  subordination 
Df  ranks,  among  whom  is  no  envy  and  no  arrogance  ; 
a  community  pervaded  by  one  spirit,  governed  by 
one  law,  joyfully  submissive  to  one  Master  ;  where 
avarice  and  ambition,  plotting  and  counterplotting, 
are  unknown.  There,  angelic  friendships  never  cool ; 
nor  does  hypocrisy  plunder  the  wardrobe  of  heaven 
to  show  herself  among  cherubim.  And  what  an 
absence  of  vanity  among  those  shining  ranks ! 
Seraphim  hide  their  faces  with  their  wings.  All  are 
humble,  fit  subjects  of  a  King  who  is  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart. 

The  present  ministration  of  angels  to  Christian 
pilgrims  establishes  a  relation  of  the  deepest  interest. 
The  particular  ways  and  instances  of  their  special 


SOCIETY     OF    ANGELS.  137 

efforts  as  our  allies,  we  know  not,  nor  do  we  need  to 
know.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  be  assured  that  an 
immense  host  of  these  efficient  guardians  are  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  heirs  of  salvation.  Dwelling  as 
we  do  in  this  tabernacle  of  flesh,  burdened  with  in- 
firmities, assailed  by  temptations,  what  consolation 
it  is  to  know  that  there  is  sympathy  for  us,  and  co- 
operation with  us,  in  the  world  of  spirits  !  Let  us 
never  forget,  that  while  we  have  to  contend,  not 
only  with  indwelling  sin,  and  the  dangerous  in- 
fluences of  surrounding  scenes,  but  also  to  wrestle 
with  principalities,  powers,  the  rulers  of  the  dark- 
ness of  this  world,  spiritual  wickedness  in  high 
places,  still  they  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they 
that  be  with  them.  If,  as  to  the  young  man  with  the 
prophet,  a  view  were  granted  us  into  the  surround- 
ing sphere  of  spiritual  being,  or  if  the  vision  of 
faith  were  sufficiently  clarified  and  enlarged,  we 
too  should  see  *'the  mountains  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about."  Yerily,  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  encampeth  round  about  them  that  fear  him, 
and  delivereth  them. 

Nor  are  low  and  lowly  Christians  overlooked  by 

these  ministering  spirits.     It  has  not  been  merely  to 

the  noble  and  learned  of  earth  that  they  have  made 

their  most  signal  manifestations,  but  also  to  the  out- 

12* 


138  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

cast  bendwoman,  to  the  houseless  prophet,  to  igno- 
rant shepherds,  and  imprisoned  fishermen.  Gold, 
purple,  ermine,  and  rags,  and  outward  wretched- 
ness, are  all  one  in  theii  eyes.  "  Take  heed,''  said 
Christ,  "  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones, 
for  I  say  unto  you,  that  in  heaven  their  angels  do 
always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.''  The  most  obscure  of  God's  people  on 
earth  share  in  the  sympathy  of  angels  in  yonder 
world  of  light,  who  stand  in  the  presence  of  the 
King  of  kings.  What  ground  of  humble  exulta- 
tion is  here  ;  and  what  pitiable  arrogance  for  any  to 
despise  them ! 

"  I  have  seen  angels  by  the  sick  one's  pillow ; 

Theirs  was  the  soft  tone  and  the  soundless  tread ; 
When  smitten  hearts  were  drooping  like  the  willow, 
They  stood  '  between  the  living  and  the  dead.' 

"  There  have  been  angels  in  the  gloomy  prison ; 
In  crowded  halls ;  by  the  lone  widow's  hearth ; 
And  when  they  passed,  the  fallen  have  uprisen  — 
The  giddy  paused  —  the  mourner's  hope  had  birth." 

*'  0,  everlasting  God  !  who  hast  ordained  and  con- 
stituted the  services  of  angels  and  men  in  a  wonder- 
ful order  ;  grant  that  as  thy  holy  angels  always  do 


SOCIETY    OF    ANGELS.  139 

thy  service  in  heaven,  so^  by  thy  appointment,  they 
may  succor  and  defend  us  on  earth ! '' 

At  the  hour  of  death  their  services  are  eminently 
enjoyed.  Dying  seems  ordinarily  so  much  like  pass- 
ing suddenly  into  the  dark,  like  plunging  into  an 
unfathomed  sea,  that  the  soul  shrinks,  and  longs  for 
some  hand  to  guide  and  uphold  it.  The  thought  of 
going  alone  into  those  untried  scenes  not  unfrequent- 
ly  occasions  trembling.  But  it  does  not  go  alone. 
Angels  are,  as  TertuUian  calls  them,  Evocatores  ani- 
marum,  • 

"  Hark,  they  whisper,  —  angels  say, 
Sister  spirit,  come  away  !  " 

They  who  have  ministered  unseen,  now  become 
visible  guards.  The  departing  soul  is  borne  to  its 
everlasting  rest  by  the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the 
horsemen  thereof.  "It  came  to  pass  ehat  the  beg- 
gar died,  and  was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abra- 
ham's bosom.''  Yes,  Lazarus,  without  fortune, 
without  friends,  without  home,  without  clothing, 
without  food,  exposed  in  the  open  air,  and  covered 
with  sores,  —  Lazarus,  whom  a  moment  before  the 
meanest  servant  of  the  rich  man  held  in  contempt, 
blessing  his  stars  that  he  was  not  so  forlorn  and 


140  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

wretched ;  he,  whom  a  moment  before  none  but 
dogs  cared  for,  is  now  carried  by  angels  into  Abra- 
ham's bosom.  A  vast  convoy  of  mighty,  holy 
shining  ones  bear  that  despised  beggar's  soul  high 
up  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 

What,  then,  if,  in  the  closing  scene,  you  feel  as 
solitary  and  friendless  as  he  who  was  laid  at  the  gate 
of  Dives  ?  Think  of  the  waiting  crowd,  into  whose 
friendly  presence  and  kind  ministrations  death  will 
introduce  you.  Gently  will  they  bear  you  in  their 
arms  to  your  Father's  house.  Familiarize  yourself 
with  this  animating  thought.  In  the  midst  of  deep 
contemplation  on  his  death-bed,  Kichard  Hooker  re- 
marked :  *'  I  am  meditating  the  number  and  nature 
of  angels,  and  their  blessed  obedience  and  order, 
without  which  peace  could  not  be  in  heaven  ;  and, 
0,  that  it  might  be  so  on  earth  !  "  ''  Now,  angels," 
said  an  early  pastor  of  New  England,  when  dying, 
"  now,  angels,  do  your  office  ;"  while  Dr.  Bateman 
exclaimed,  ''What  glory!  the  angels  are  waiting 
for  me  !  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit !  Fare- 
well!  " 

When,  reader,  your  face  shall  be  toward  Padan- 
Aram,  and  you  light  upon  a  certain  place  to  tarry 
there  all  night,  and,  with  the  stones  thereof  for  your 


SOCIETY     OF    ANGELS.  141 

pillow,  you  lie  down  in  that  place  to  sleep,  may  you 
behold  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending 
between  heaven  and  earth  !  You  will  find  it  none 
other  but  the  house  of  God ;  it  will  be  the  gate  of 
heaven. 


CHAPTER    X, 

SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR. 

To  Jesus,  the  crown  of  my  hope, 

My  soul  is  in  haste  to  be  gone  ; 
0,  bear  me,  ye  cherubim,  up, 

And  waft  me  away  to  his  throne  ! 

My  Saviour,  whom  absent,  I  love  ; 

Whom,  not  having  seen,  I  adore ; 
Whose  name  is  exalted  above 

All  glory,  dominion,  and  power  ; 

When  that  happy  era  begins. 
When  arrayed  in  thy  glories  I  shine, 

Nor  grieve  any  more,  by  my  sins. 
The  bosom  on  which  I  recline,  — 

0,  then  shall  the  veil  be  removed, 

And  round  me  thy  brightness  be  poured  ; 

I  shall  meet  him,  whom  absent,  I  loved  ; 
I  shall  see  him,  whom  unseen,  I  adored ! 

COWPER. 

A  TWO-FOLD  curtain  hides  heaven  from  our  view, 
the  curtain  which  separates  the  present  from  the 
future,  and  that  which  separates  the  world  we  now 
live  in  frdm  the  world  of  spirits.  Yet  fain  would 
we  pierce  that  screen.     Fain  would  we  know  the 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  143 

location  and  features  of  the  Better  Land.  Fain  would 
we  find  a  telescope  able  to  reveal  to  us  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem.  Fain  would  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  that 
particular  mansion  which  we  shall  occupy.  How 
shall  I  feel  when  disembodied  ?  With  what  emo- 
tions shall  I  bid  farewell  to  this  earthly  house  of  my 
tabernacle,  when  first  its  windows  are  darkened,  and 
its  door  shut  behind  me  ?  With  what  emotions  shall 
I  join  the  convoy  of  angels,  pass  the  gate  of  pearl, 
and  along  the  pavement  of  gold,  up  to  the  great 
white  throne  ?  With  what  eyes  shall  I  look  round 
upon  that  city  of  my  God  ?  With  what  ears  shall  I 
hear  the  harpers  harping  with  their  harps  ?  Most 
of  all,  with  what  rapturous  intensity,  with  what 
seraphic  calmness,  will  the  first  glance  and  the  pro- 
tracted gaze  be  directed  to  Him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  ? 

The  most  important  view  of  the  happiness  of  hea- 
ven has  respect  to  the  relations  there  between  Christ 
and  his  people.  And  the  question  arises,  Will  there 
be  a  personal  fellowship  between  the  Great  Kedeemer 
and  our  glorified  spirits  ?  The  intimations  of  God's 
word  are,  that  in  the  Better  Land  there  will  be  inti- 
mate communion  between  Christ  and  its  redeemed 
inhabitants.  The  Holy  Scriptures  reveal  but  little 
concerning  the  mode  and  conditions  of  future  exist- 


144  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

ence  ;  concerning  the  nature  of  spiritual  bodies, 
our  relations  to  space,  and  to  other  intelligences,  the 
character  of  our  perceptions,  and  the  details  of  our 
employments.  The  Holy  Spirit  enters  into  no  spec- 
ifications concerning  a  thousand  points  on  which  we 
might  love  to  speculate.  And  wisely  kind  is  that 
silence.  Our  highest  present  good  does  not  depend 
upon  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  physiology, 
psychology,  or  political  economy  of  Paradise.  The 
requisite  for  admission  to  that  higher  department  is 
not  a  diploma  from  the  schools  of  speculative  science. 
It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  or  what 
we  shall  do  ;  saving  that  general  hints  are  thrown 
out,  on  which  we  may  lawfully  enlarge  for  our  own 
spiritual  comfort  and  the  present  glory  of  divine 
grace. 

Inquiring  after  testimony  on  this  point,  we  go  first 
of  all  to  our  Lord  himself.  Let  us  listen  to  him  in 
the  solemn  act  of  supplication  :  ''Father,  I  will  that 
they  also  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me 
where  I  am.''  This  verse  is  the  last  petition  in 
our  Saviour's  memorable  intercessory  prayer  ;  and 
this  closing  request  is  for  the  future  blessedness  of 
believers.  How,  then,  does  our  Lord  speak  of  the 
heavenly  state  ?  What  intimation  does  he  furnish  in 
regard  to  its  nature  ?     Does  he  pray  that  those  given 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUH.  145 

him  by  the  Father  may  have  exemption  from  the  trials 
of  earth  ?  —  that  they  may  repose  under  celestial 
bowers,  beside  the  river  of  life,  amusing  themselves 
with  study  or  recreation,  as  their  tastes  incline  ? 
Is  there  any  hint  here  that  sensual  or  social  epicu- 
reanism is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  Paradise  of  God  ? 
that  there  is  there  fitted  up,  as  some  imagine,  an 
intellectual  palaestra,  or  an  academy  of  the  arts  ? 
How  does  he  who  was  on  the  eve  of  departure  to 
prepare  a  place  for  his  followers  express  himself  ? 
"Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast 
given  me,  he  with  me  where  I  am,  that  they  may 
behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me."  To 
come  personally  into  his  presence,  and  enjoy  a  vision 
of  his  glory,  is  the  heaven  which  he  supplicates  for 
his  disciples.  A  few  chapters  preceding,  we  read, 
''  And  if  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will 
come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself,  that 
where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also.''  And,  still 
earlier,  ''  Where  I  am  there  shall  my  servant 
be.''  Christ  would  cheer  the  hearts  of  his  troubled 
disciples  by  assuring  them  of  a  future  residence 
with  himself.  All  that  he  needed  to  say  to  his 
penitent  companion  in  crucifixion  was,  '*  To-day 
shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  Such  is  our 
Lord's  description  of  heaven,  —  being  with  him 
13 


146  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

And  Vv^hat  did  his  early  disciples  understand  by 
this?  What  meaning  can  it  convey  to  us,  if  not 
the  idea  of  personal  fellowship  with  him  ? 

What  else,  too,  does  he  design  by  the  imagery 
of  a  banquet,  when  he  gives  the  assurance,  ^'  that 
ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table  in  my  king- 
dom''? And  while  the  eucharist  is  a  memorial 
of  the  past,  is  it  not  also  a  type  of  the  future  ? 
"  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this 
fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new 
with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom."  Is  not  the 
same,  moreover,  implied  in  the  salutation  of  the 
final  judgment,  ''  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Fath- 
er?" 

Let  us  inquire  of  Paul  what  his  idea  of  heaven  is, 
and  he  answers, ''  To  be  with  Christ,"  "To  be  pres- 
ent with  the  Lord,"  ''To  be  ever  with  the  Lord." 
We  ask  the  beloved  disciple  what  he  actually  saw 
and  heard,  and  he  gives  the  response  of  one  of 
the  elders :  ''  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall 
dwell  among  them ;  for  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead 
them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters."  From  all 
which  we  learn  that  the  presence  ctf  Christ  in  the 
New  Jerusalem  is  the  essence  of  its  glory  and  bliss, 
and  that  the  gathering  of  saints  around  him  is  that 


SOCIETY    OP    THE    SAVIOUR.  147 

they  may  have  perfected  fellowship  with  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  The  fact,  therefore,  of  such  personal 
intercourse  between  him  and  them  is  fully  estab- 
lished. 

It  will  confirm  this,  and  enhance  our  anticipations 
of  the  delight  of  such  fellowship,  if  we  bear  in 
mind  that  his  identity  is  unimpaired.  The  same 
Saviour  who  appeared  on  earth,  —  the  Lamb,  to 
whom  sinners  were  invited  to  look,  —  is  the  Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne  on  high,  who  shall  feed 
them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of 
waters.  In  the  constitution  of  his  person  he  remains 
unchanged,  and  as  fuUy  adapted  for  society  with 
his  disciples  as  when  he  was  on  earth.  Was  a  hu- 
man form  required  here  ?  It  is  possessed  there. 
The  resurrection-body  of  our  Lord  —  that  with 
which  the  disciples  saw  him  taken  up  into  heaven, 
that  with  which  we  shall  see  him  come  again  in 
like  manner  —  is  the  one  which  the  redeemed  will 
behold  in  heaven,  and  in  which  he  will  commune 
with  them  forever.  It  was  in  that  same  form  that 
he  was  first  gazed  upon  at  Bethlehem,  that  he  trav- 
ersed Palestine,  that  he  walked  upon  the  sea,  that 
he  entered  Jerusalem.  It  is  the  same  body  on  the 
throne  —  changed  only  so  far  as  the  circumstances 
of  heaven  may  demand-  which  once  thirsted  under 


148  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

the  heat  of  noon-day  at  Shechem,  and  felt  the  chill 
of  midnight  on  the  mountain's  brow ;  that  sweat 
blood  in  Gethsemane,  received  stripes  in  the  judg- 
ment hall,  bore  the  cross  towards  Calvary,  and,  at 
last,  died  thereon. 

But  it  is  glorious  mainly  as  the  residence  of  Im- 
manuel.  He  it  is  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible 
Grod,  the  express  image  of  his  person,  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  glory.  As  on  earth,  so  in 
heaven,  he  is  the  only  visible  representative  of 
Deity.  Philip  said,  *'  Show  us  the  Father,  and  it 
sufEceth  us."  Jesus  replied,  "  He  that  hath  seen 
me  hath  seen  the  Father."  Was  God  manifest  in 
;he  flesh  the  ''mystery  of  godliness ? "  Did  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  then  ''  dwell  in  him  bodily"  1 
The  same  is  he  in  heaven,  only  all  this  is  more  glo- 
riously exhibited.  His  person  combines  such  an 
amplitude  of  majesty  and  meekness,  such  a  con- 
junction of  all  divine  attributes  with  all  that  is 
winning  in  a  perfected  humanity,  that  saints  and 
angels  may  ponder  thereon,  and  adore  forever.  No 
degree,  no  period  of  intimacy,  can  abate  their  feel- 
ings of  wonder  and  delight.  On  the  other  hand, 
all  this  will  be  enjoyed,  notwithstanding  the  dispar- 
ity between  him  and  glorified  believers.  True  he 
is  king,   and  therefore  infinitely  exalted.     While 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  149 

glorious  in  his  person,  he  is  also  glorious  in  his 
dominion.  No  less  on  that  throne  than  as  the  man 
of  sorrows  is  he  the  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the 
Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  ''AH  power  has  been  given  unto  him  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  Wherefore  God  also  hath 
highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name  which 
is  above  every  name,  that,  at  the  name  of  Jesus, 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and 
things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth,  and 
that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.''  The 
decree.  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him,  has 
never  been  reversed.  Yet  as  his  Godhead,  during 
his  sojourn  on  earth,  did  not  make  him  any  less 
truly  man,  any  less  suited  to  the  freest  fellowship 
with  man,  so  neither  does  that  eternal  revelation 
of  the  same  Godhead  in  heaven. 

Nor  does  the  fact  that  his  supremacy  has  a  punitive 
element  interfere  with  such  communion.  Kevelation 
assures  us  that  it  is  not  alone  in  his  mild  regency  over 
the  hosts  of  heaven  that  he  wall  be  known  as  king 
He  has  already  spoiled  the  principalities  and  powers 
of  darkness.  And  when  the  mighty  struggle  between 
his  kingdom  and  that  of  Satan  shall  issue  in  the^ 
utter  overthrow  of  the  arch-apostate,  his  sway 
13* 


150  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Aver  the  nether  world  will  be  yet  more  signally  dis 
closed.  In  view  of  it,  saints  will  sing,  Hallelujah ! 
*'  He  hath  on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name 
written,  —  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  His 
eyes  are  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  on  his  head  are 
many  crowns.  And  out  of  his  mouth  goeth  a  sharp 
sword,  that  with  it  he  should  smite  the  nations.'' 
What !  is  this  the  character  of  him  who  reigns  in 
heaven  ?  "What  means  such  a  picture  of  awful 
vengeance  ?  He  who  is  enthroned  on  Zion  is  styled 
the  Prince  of  Peace.  Is  he  not  the  good  Shepherd, 
tender  and  benignant  ?  Ay,  in  that  heart  are 
unfathomable  depths  of  tenderness.  But  do  those 
taught  of  God  need  to  be  told  that  justice  is  an 
attribute  as  indispensable  and  as  desirable,  too,  as 
mercy  ?  Do  they  need  to  be  told  that  if,  after  all 
he  has  done  and  suffered,  his  enemies  will  not  bow 
before  him,  it  is  right,  infinitely  right,  that  they 
should  feel  the  force  of  his  justice  ?  It  is  John, 
the  tender-hearted,  who  bears  witness  so  fully  to 
the  amiability  of  Immanuel,  who  also  bears  wit- 
ness that  "  Out  of  his  mouth  goeth  a  sharp 
sword,  that  with  it  he  may  smite  the  nations  ;  and 
he  shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  and  he 
treadeth  the  wine-press  of  the  fierceness  and  wrath 
of  Almighty  Gol.''     The  shining  ones  on  high  will 


SC  CIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  151 

recognize  him  as  Lord  over  the  regions  of  dark- 
ness, and  with  boundless  complacency  will  they  do 
it.  Not  one  particle  will  remain  of  present  unholy 
sympathy  with  crime,  or  morbid  reluctance  to  see 
the  glorious  majesty  of  that  law  maintained. 

The  grand  aim  of  this  holy  intercourse  is  adoring 
acquaintance  with  Him  in  whom  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  grace.  This  ennobling 
study  attracts  all  who  are  divinely  taught.  The 
manifestation  of  the  Godhead  in  Christ  Jesus 
is  the  one  plan  of  eternity.  All  divine  arrange- 
ments are  subordinate  to  that.  By  it  all  the  de- 
velopments of  creation,  providence,  and  prophecy, 
are  harmonized.  While  its  Alpha  lies  hid  among 
the  glories  of  past  eternity,  its  Omega  will  never 
be  fully  disclosed  by  the  increasing  splendors 
of  an  endless  future.  This  is  the  one  cherished 
design  of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  which  absorbs  all 
others.  Before  the  foundation  of  the  world  was  it 
declared,  "I  have  set  my  king  upon  my  holy  hill 
of  Zion.''  In  mutual  council,  the  eternal  Son  was 
constitut3d  head  of  a  kingdom  whose  history  takes 
in  the  dispensations  of  time  and  of  eternity,  and 
whose  glorious  court  is  the  Mount  Zion  above. 

But  the  fellowship  of  the  redeemed  with  Christ 
in  heaven  will  be  glorious  for  another  reason.     He 


152  THE    BETTEB     LAND. 

it  is  in  whom  they  had  chosen  before  the  foun 
dation  of  the  world ;  he,  of  whom  it  was  an- 
nounced so  early  that  he  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head  ;  who  in  every  sacrifice  was  shadowed  forth 
as  the  atoning  Messiah ;  yea,  who  in  the  ever- 
lasting covenant  was  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world,  till,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  he 
bore  our  sins  in  hi^  own  body  on  the  tree  ;  — he,  as 
the  Lord  our  Kighteousness,  is  to  fill  every  eye  and 
heart  in  heaven.  Full  of  meaning  was  the  herald's 
proclamation,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world  ! ''  But  far  more  of  im- 
port is  there  in  the  new  song,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb 
that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wis- 
dom, and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  bless- 
ing." Because  Christ  was  made  a  curse  for  us ; 
because  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  and 
bruised  for  our  iniquities;  because  he  honored  the 
law,  vanquished  Satan,  and  ascended  to  be  our 
advocate ;  because  he  is  \h.Q  vine  and  we  are  the 
branches,  and  no  one  is  able  to  pluck  us  out  of  his 
hand  ;  therefore,,  do  the  redeemed  say,  are  we 
here.  ''  Thou  art  worthy,  for  thou  wast  slain,  and 
hast  redeemed  us  to  God,  by  thy  blood,  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation.''  Of 
all  the  thousand  thousand  occupants  of  heaven,  not 


SOCHTY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  153 

one  is  there  for  any  other  reason  than  because 
Chrir:t,  having  Icved  his  own,  loved  them  to  the 
end,  and  is  the  sole,  the  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
Those  hosts,  animated  by  the  same  feeling,  joining 
in  one  song,  only  because  there  is  one  mediator 
between  God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  are 
and  ever  will  be  before  the  throne.  Beyond  all 
doubt.  He  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  dwells 
among  them,  delights,  most  of  all,  to  speak  of  this 
his  highest  office.  Eternity  will  not  exhaust  the 
theme.  Its  farthest  age  will  only  reveal  wonders 
in  it  never  known  before. 

In  heaven  alone  can  there  exist  anything  like  a 
full  appreciation  of  Christ's  redeeming  work.  True, 
all  that  is  necessary  to  our  present  condition,  or 
appropriate  to  our  present  capacities,  may  now  be 
apprehended.  Much  may  be  known  of  the  Saviour 
by  the  prayerful  study  of  his  life,  as  recorded  in 
his  word.  Much  may  be  enjoyed  when  his  body 
and  blood  are  set  forth  at  his  table.  How  much 
more  than  tongue  can  tell  may  be  learned  and  en- 
joyed when  the  promised  Comforter  teaches  all 
things,  and  brings  all  things  to  remembrance  !  Yet, 
after  all,  ve  now  know  but  in  part  —  we  see 
only  th]f:ug/.  a  glass,  darkly  ;  then,  it  will  be  face 
to  face      If  3ven  here,  so  far  from  the  abode  of 


154  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

blessedness,  God,  who  commanded  the  light  tc 
shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to 
give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  what  will  be  the  ful- 
ness of  effulgence  in  that  city  where  there  is  no 
need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it, 
for  the  glory  of  God  is  the  light  thereof  ?  That  is 
a  light  whose  orb  never  sinks  beneath  the  celestial 
horizon,  and  which  is  sevenfold  brighter  than  the 
sun.  If  Peter  thought  it  was  good  to  linger  on 
the  mount  of  transfiguration,  how  will  he  and  all 
the  saints  feel  on  the  Mount  Zion  above,  over  which 
no  cloud  settles,  and  from  which  they  never  de- 
scend ?  If  the  same  apostle  could  affirm,  "  In 
whom,  though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing, 
ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  ;'' 
what  will  be  his  and  our  joy  when  we  do  see  'him 
as  he  is,  and  he  shall  talk  with  us  as  a  man  talketh 
with  his  friend?  Unspeakable  and  full,  of  glory 
now,  whose  tongue  can  teU  what  it  will  be  then  ? 
All  that  need  be  said,  is,  ''I  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth,  whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and 
mine  ey3S  shall  behold,  and  na*:  another."  Of  this 
we  are  sure,  when  death  shall  introduce  to  the  im- 
mediate fellowship  of  Him  who  suffered  on  Calvary 
it  will  be  found  the  half  had  n^t  been  told  us.     A 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  155 

few  moments'  conversation  with  him  will  reveal 
more  of  his  personal  excellence,  more  of  the  deep 
things  of  redemption,  than  is  gained  by  all  the  study 
of  earth. 

Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  story  of  the  first 
convert  in  Greenland.  "How  was  -that?''  he 
inquired,  as  the  missionary  read  the  history  of 
Christ's  sufferings,  "  How  was  that  ?  tell  me  that 
once  more."  Never  does  that  rehearsal  grow  tire- 
some to  the  believer  on  his  way  to  heaven,  and 
when  the  disembodied  spirit  enjoys  its  first  glimpse 
of  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  and  drinks  in  the  first 
notes  of  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  its  feel- 
ing must  be,  "What  is  that?  tell  me  that  once 
more."  And  as  the  charm  which  invests  the  Re- 
deemer entrances  the  soul  more  and  more  deeply  at 
every  advanced  stage  of  heavenly  knowledge,  it 
may  still  renew  the  same  exclamation. 

Personal  converse  is  essential  to  completeness  of 
social  enjoyment  —  to  the  more  refined  and  higher 
immunities  of  friendship.  The  human  soul  is  made 
to  demand,  especially  when  renewed,  an  intimacy 
with  a  more  perfect  friend  than  earth  affords.  In 
familiar  acquaintance  you  may  presently  explore 
any  man,  and  then  you  find  yourself  longing  for  a 
friend  more  worthy  of  your  friendship.     Now  there 


156  THE    BETTER    IaND. 

is  one,  and  only  one,  who  can  meet  tliis  unsati.ifie<3 
demand.  It  is  he  who  is  divine,  and  yet  a  man.  It 
is  he  who  calls  his  followers  not  servants  but  friends. 
What  was  his  last  domestic  act  on  earth,  but  to 
wash  his  disciples'  feet  ?  —  intimating  that,  as  the 
period  of  his  exaltation  approached,  there  was  no 
change,  but  only  a  freer  manifestation  of  his  tender 
regard,  and  a  desire  that  their  last  associations  of 
him  in  private  life  might  be  the  most  familiar  and 
endearing.  The  Komish  intervention  of  saints  and 
the  Virgin  between  the  brethren  on  earth  and  the 
Brother  in  heaven,  is  a  cruel  dishonor  to  ChrisVs 
condescending  tenderness  now ;  but  in  the  New 
Jerusalem,  where  we  are  to  see  him  face  to  face,  it 
would  be  a  yet  more  disheartening  barrier. 

In  heaven  Christ  will  commune  immediately 
with  us.  0,  what  rapture  will  that  be !  Happy 
were  the  wise  men  when  they  found  him  at  Bethle- 
hem ;  happy  was  grayheaded  Simeon  when  he  saw 
him  in  the  temple  ;  happy  the  woman  with  whom 
he  talked  at  Jacob's  well ;  happy  his  own  mother 
as  she  sat  at  his  feet ;  happy  the  disciples  whose 
hearts  burned  as  he  talked  with  them  by  the  way ; 
happy  the  whole  brotherhood,  when  he  came  sud- 
denly into  the  midst  of  them,  with  his  heavenly 
"Peace  be  with  you;"  but  all  those  were  faint 


SOCIETY    OF    THE    SAVIOUR.  15V 

foretasfces  of  the  intimacy  of  heaven.  To  stand 
side  by  side  with  the  Lord  Jesus  ;  to  walk  with 
him  in  light ;  ay,  to  lean  where  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple leaned  —  that,  that  is  heaven. 

At  ti  feast  given  to  the  chief  ofi&cers  of  his  army 
Cyrus  presented  to  some  of  them  costly  gifts — to  one 
a  splendid  garment,  to  another  a  golden  cup  ;  but 
Chrysantas,  his  favorite  friend,  he  merely  drew  to 
himself,  and  kissed  him.  All  of  Christ's  followers 
are  bidden  to  the  banquet  of  heaven ;  with  his  own 
lips  has  he  declared,  "  That  ye  may  eat  and  drink 
at  my  table  in  my  kingdom.' '  Not  the  white  robe, 
not  the  harp  or  the  crown  of  gold,  is  most  thought 
of  there  ;  but  the  privilege  of  each  to  sit  with  him 
en  his  throne,  and  eat  with  him  at  his  table  ;  to 
hear  from  his  own  mouth  the  gracious  assurances  of 
his  love. 

Hence,  there  will  be  complete  assimilation  to 
him.  "When  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like 
him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  Komish 
legends  rehearse  that  the  Virgin,  and  that  Christ 
himself;  has  appeared  sensibly  to  certain  saints,  and 
impressed  marks  —  stigmata  —  indelibly  upon  their 
persons.  Far  more  valuable  and  lasting  are  Christ's 
actual  manifestations  of  himself  to  the  souls  of 
believers,  and  the  impress  which  he  leaves  there 
14 


158  THE    BETTER    ..AND. 

upon  them.  ''It  does  a  man  good/'  w^is  the 
remark  of  a  distinguished  European,  after  an  intro- 
duction to  his  sovereign,  ' '  it  does  a  man  good  to 
have  an  interview  with  a  king."  Yes ;  and  it 
does  a  man  good  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
King  of  kings  ;  to  talk  with  him  face  to  face,  as  a 
man  talketh  with  his  friend.  It  does  one  good  to 
have  an  interview  with  him,  who,  notwithstanding 
his  royalty,  is  a  man,  —  one  who  can  be  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities.  It  does  a  man 
good  to  draw  nigh,  in  full  assurance  of  faith.  It 
has  an  elevating  effect  upon  him  ;  he  will  not  only 
be  more  loyal,  but  will  carry  away  with  him  some- 
what of  dignified  regal  bearing  itself. 

''  We  know  that  hereafter  we  shall  be  like  him.'' 
Here  the  ravages  of  leprosy  may  be  stayed,  but 
the  scars  not  all  effaced.  Perfect  soundness,  com- 
plete freedom  from  blemish,  will  not  be  realized  till 
"  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  change  our  vile  body, 
and  fashion  it  like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according 
to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  himself."  It  might  seem  enough,  at 
first  thought,  that  we  are  to  be  like  angels.  But 
no  ;  that  will  not  satisfy  a  soul  which  strives  to  be 
perfect  even  as  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is 
perfect.     "  We  know  that  we  shall  be  like  him,— 


SOCIETY  OF  THE  SAVIOUR.      159 

for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is/'  A  special  trans- 
forming power  is  ascribed  to  that  view  of  Christ, 
and  communion  with  him,  which  saints  enjoy  in 
heaven.  Among  men  nothing  is  more  common 
than  to  remark  the  formative  influence  which  a  per- 
son of  commanding  talents  or  position  exerts  upon 
others.  The  biographies  of  such  men  in  turn,  and 
one's  favorite  authors,  sway  our  views  and  feelings 
by  a  power  scarcely  less  marked.  Alexander  the 
Great  always  had  a  copy  of  Homer  under  his  pil- 
low. Caesar,  meeting  with  a  statue  of  Alexander, 
was  fired  with  an  ambition  he  had  never  known 
before  ;  Aristotle,  by  his  writings,  ruled  over  more 
thousands  than  his  royal  pupil  subdued  ;  and  while 
the  kingdom  of  Macedon  survived  only  a  few  years, 
that  of  the  philosopher  maintains  to  this  day  a  foot- 
hold in  the  world.  By  the  force  of  his  talents  and 
scholarship  Sir  William  Jones  could  infuse  a  lit- 
erary spirit  into  the  agents  of  a  grasping  commer- 
cial company.  Tell  me  with  whom  you  go,  and  I 
will  tell  you  what  you  are.  Such  is  man's  social 
constitution,  that  his  sentiments,  language  and  de- 
portment, will  be  formed,  partially  or  entirely,  by 
his  associates,  whoever  they  are.  Seneca  recom- 
mended to  a  friend  to  represent  to  himself  Socrates, 
Cato,  or  some  other  distinguished  worthy,  as  a  con 


160  THE    BETTER    LAND 

stant  observer  of  his  actions.  He  suggests  this  as 
an  excellent  method  for  reforming  a  man's  life,  and 
rendering  him  eminently  virtuous.  There  was  rea- 
son in  it.  "What,  then,  must  be  the  assimilating 
power  of  the  divine  presence,  when,  by  no  fiction 
of  the  fancy,  but  in  immediate  vision,  we  come 
before  the  King  of  kings  ?  How  must  the  enrap- 
turing glories  of  his  person  and  converse  mould  the 
soul  into  harmony  with  his  own  !  Even  a  glimpse 
of  his  loveliness  must  fascinate  the  beholder.  The 
very  clod  beneath  the  rose-bush  imbibes  a  perfume. 
You  cannot  walk  through  Oriental  groves  without 
bearing  away  somewhat  of  their  precious  aroma ; 
and  can  one  walk  in  the  paradise  of  God,  and  im- 
bibe no  fragrance  ?  The  ancients  speak  of  a  stream 
of  which  if  a  creature  drank  it  turned  to  a  pure 
whitb.     It  is  fabled,  too,  that  there  is  a  stream, 

"  Where  the  leaves  that  fall, 
'Neath  the  autumn  sky, 
Grow  gem-like  all, 
And  never  die." 

Is  there  no  virtue  in  the  pure  river  of  water  of 
life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  ?  Is  there  no  blessed  in- 
fluence in  the  atmosphere  of  heaven  ?     With  what 


SOCIETY    OP    THE    SAVIOUR.  161 

a  mighty  transforming  power  must  the  special  pres- 
ence of  Him  who  is  glorious  in  holiness  he  felt 
round  about  the  throne  !  If  the  face  of  Moses  shone 
as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel,  what  will  be  the 
lustre  of  a  countenance,  on  which  in  heaven  those 
vital  beams  pour  in  a  ceaseless  and  benignant  stream ! 
Then,  as  not  before,  will  it  be  true,  "Ye  were 
sometimes  darkness ;  but  now  are  ye  light  in  the 
Lord  ;  "  and  when  the  gracious  influences  of  heaven 
shall  have  brought  the  heart  into  perfect  conformity 
to  God,  then  will  it  be  announced,  with  a  mean- 
ing not  now  understood  :  "Ye  have  put  on  the  new 
man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge,  after  the 
image  of  him  that  created  him/' 

It  will  not  then  be  through  ordinances ;  not 
through  shadows,  like  smoke  of  incense ;  not  by  sym- 
bols, like  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,  or  the  light 
from  between  the  cherubim ;  through  no  glass  darkly, 
will  Christ  there  be  seen,  but  face  to  face.  Not 
merely  reflected  rays,  such  as  now  shine  upon  us, 
can  there  be  endured ;  but  the  inner  eye  will  be 
strengthened  to  receive  directly  the  concentrated 
beams  of  that  effulgence.  Not  by  tiresome  study, 
not  with  a  painful  gaze  in  the  dimness  of  twilight, 
but  with  clearest  insight  will  believers  exultingly 

contemplate  the  Lamb  that  dwells  among  them. 
14* 


162  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

The  knowledge  thus  acquired  will  be  peculiarly 
full  and  comprehensive.  In  the  present  state,  it  is 
but  a  copy  we  behold,  not  the  original.  Much  as 
we  may  learn,  still  we  say,  ''Verily,  thou  art  a 
God  that  hidest  thyself!  "  Even  the  means  by 
which  he  reveals  himself  are  means  of  eclipse.  But 
as  when  the  sun,  arising  upon  a  cloudless  sky,  illu- 
minates the  whole  hemisphere,  so  will  the  believer 
find  the  world  of  blessedness  ;  only  the  light  there- 
of will  be  as  the  light  of  the  sun  seven-fold.  Christ 
will  then  seem  all  in  all. 

There  was  one  Eudoxus,  who  longed  to  approach 
the  sun  near  enough  to  have  a  full  view  of  that 
glorious  body,  even  though  it  should  consume  him. 
What  is  the  strength  of  our  aspirations  to  behold 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  ?  Do  we  long  for  that 
fuller  view  which  shall  so  irradiate  and  transform  the 
soul  ?  While,  then,  we  remain  on  earth,  let  us  be 
often  at  the  mount  of  glory ;  and,  see  to  it,  that  in 
the  structure  of  character,  ''  thou  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  showed  thee  in  that 
m:)unfc.'' 


CHAPTER    XI. 

HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES. 

0,  change  !     0,  wondrous  change  ! 
Burst  are  the  prison  bars ! 
This  moment  there  —  so  low 
In  mortal  prayer  —  and  now 
Beyond  the  stars ! 

O ,  change !     Stupendous  change ! 
Here  lies  the  senseless  clod ; 
The  soul  from  bondage  breaks, 
The  new  immortal  wakes — 
Awakes  with  God ! 

C.  Bowles. 

The  jlose  relationship  of  things  apparently  differ- 
ent is  one  of  the  most  striking  facts  in  nature.  No 
two  substances  are  to  the  eye  more  unlike,  or  in 
their  elements  more  similar,  than  charcoal  and  the 
diamond.  Wandering  along  the  beach,  how  little 
do  we  think  that  the  sand  beneath  our  feet  enters  so 
largely  into  the  composition  of  the  splendid  vase,  or 
the  humbler  but  still  elegant  utensils  upon  our  table  , 
that,  clarified  and  combined  with  other  substances, 
it  forms  the  crystal  ceiling  of  palaces,  dazzling  and 


164  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

enchanting  assembled  throngs ;  or  that  to  the  eye 
of  the  astronomer  it  reveals  countless  wonders  in  the 
heavens  !  The  caterpillar  erects  for  itself  a  mauso- 
leum of  clay ;  but  that  tomb  of  a  disgusting  worm 
is  the  cradle  of  a  most  beautiful  insect.  So  is  it, 
only  in  an  immeasurably  higher  degree,  with  the 
people  of  God.  Imperfect,  rude,  unsightly  as  they 
may  now  seem  —  much  as  they  may  undergo  in  the 
crucible  of  affliction — ^'  I  reckon,"  says  Paul,  resort- 
ing to  his  sanctified  arithmetic,  ''that  the  sufferings 
of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us.'' 

That  glory  is  a  manifestation  to  and  also  by  the 
saints  in  heaven.  They  are  at  once  recipients  and 
exponents.  In  becoming  illuminated,  they  reflect 
the  light  of  life. 

The  glory  revealed  in  them  is  the  eminence  of 
their  holiness  and  happiness.  To  be  at  once  elevated 
to  a  high  degree  of  moral  worth  and  spiritual  joy, 
and  to  be  forever  advancing  in  the  same,  constitute 
the  bliss  to  which  they  are  translated  from  present 
sin  and  suffering.  If  the  word  of  God  were  silent 
on  the  subject ;  if  there  could  be  found  nothing 
positive  concerning  the  bliss  of  heaven,  analogy 
might  lead  us  to  infer  that  it  would  be  exceeding 
great.     Assuming  the  present  dispensation  of  God'a 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES.         165 

favors  as  the  standard  of  his  benevolence,  what  may 
we  reasonably  expect  when  this  mixed  condition  of 
things  shall  cease  —  when  the  tares  shall  have  been 
gathered  out  from  the  wheat,  and  when  God's  own 
chosen  people  shall  all  have  been  gathered  home  to 
heaven  ?  Dispensing  his  providential  bounties  now 
according  to  a  general  system,  which  has  compara- 
tively little  reference  to  moral  character,  he  deals 
out  favors  with  open  hand  to  Infidels  and  Pagans  ; 
to  the  rejected  house  of  Israel,  and  the  fierce  descend- 
ants of  Ishmael ;  to  the  millions  of  idolaters  in 
Eastern  Asia,  and  to  the  multitudes  of  nominal 
Christians  the  world  over.  "While,  on  the  one  hand, 
ten  righteous  men  would  have  saved  Sodom,  and  a 
handful  of  praying  ones  have  saved  many  a  city  and 
country  from  destruction  ;  on  the  other,  one  Achan 
has  often  troubled  the  whole  camp,  and  brought 
down  plagues  upon  an  entire  community. 

Now,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his 
angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all 
things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity ; 
when  nothing  shall  longer  prevent  the  displays  of 
divine  munificence,  —  no  personal  demerit  of  saints, 
3r  anything  in  their  social  relations,  —  what  glory 
will  be  revealed  in  them  ! 

B^it  there  is  something  more  certain  than  conjee- 


166  .THE    BETTER    LANI>. 

ture.  Inspiration  speaks  of  "A  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory  : ''  a  weight  of  glory  ; 
an  exceeding  weight  of  glory  ;  yes,  a  far  more  than 
hyperbolical  weight  of  glory.  Let  hyperbole  be 
piled  upon  hyperbole,  the  language  of  earth  can 
aever  convey  that  inexpressible  weight  of  future 
glory.  It  is  called  ''so  great  salvation,*'  and  ref- 
erence is  made  not  only  to  the  exalted  character  of 
the  Saviour,  and  the  magnitude  of  those  displays 
which  attended  his  mission,  but  also  to  results, 
future  as  well  as  present,  in  the  experience  of  all 
saints.  Partly,  at  least,  on  this  account,  is  it  called 
"  a  great  salvation.*'  But  how  great,  is  not  and 
cannot  be  told.  The  sacred  writer  leaves  it,  saying, 
*'  50  great  salvation.**  Glorious  things  are  indeed 
spoken  concerning  Zion,  the  city  of  our  God. 
Again  :  ''  The  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.**  It  is  not  only 
liberty,  but  glorious  liberty.  There  will  be  com- 
plete emancipation  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and 
Satan,  the  flesh  and  the  world.  And  this  deliver 
ance  of  the  children  of  God  is  so  illustrious  that 
the  whole  irrational  world  is  represented  as  looking 
anxiously  f  ;r  it,  as  to  the  grand  consummation  of  all 
its  wishes. 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES.         167 

The  creature  having  been  made,  subject  to  vanity, 
not  willingly,  but  on  account  of  man's  transgres- 
sion, great,  indeed,  must  be  the  revelation  of  glory 
in  the  saints,  when,  along  with  their  own  deliver- 
ance, comes  the  emancipation  of  the  whole  irra- 
tional creation.  Taken  either  literally  or  figura- 
tively, all  Scripture  representations  teach  that  the 
future  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God  will  be 
superlative  in  glory. 

We  read  of  "  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  that  in- 
heritance ;''  the  elders  having  crowns  of  gold  upon 
their  heads,  golden  vials  full  of  odors,  and  all  in 
the  New  Jerusalem  having  harps  of  gold.  Yea, 
the  city  itself  is  pure  gold,  even  the  streets  thereof. 

The  admirable  qualities  of  this  metal  entitle  it  to 
a  high  rank,  and  with  peculiar  propriety  it  is  em- 
ployed to  represent  the  glory  of  Paradise.  It  is 
capable  of  an  unrivalled  superficial  expansion.  By 
its  singular  tractility  it  can  be  made  to  assume 
any  form  desired.  No  common  solvents  act  upon 
it.  In  the  hands  of  the  jeweller,  the  embroiderer 
or  the  gilder,  it  takes  a  thousand  useful  and  pleas- 
ing shapes.  And  then,  in  the  great  marts  of  the 
world,  it  has  been  in  all  ages  the  representative  of 
property  —  the  standard  of  value.  How  eager  has 
been  the  search  for  it,  from  the  discovery  of  Ophir, 


168  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

to  that  of  California  and  Australia  !  "  Surely  there 
is  a  vein  for  the  silver,  and  a  place  for  gold  where 
they  fine  it."  The  refiner's  fire  brings  out  the 
idolized  mammon,  and  the  ready  multitude  pay 
their  homage.  Poetry  and  popular  speech  have 
made  it  synonymous  with  everything  rich  and  beau- 
tiful. The  ripened  harvest  is  golden ;  the  sun,  at 
his  morning  advent,  pours  "  fluid  gold  "  over  moun- 
tain and  valley. 

Can  anything  be  more  valuable  than  gold  ?  Yes, 
the  faith  of  the  believer.  Gold  perisheth.  It  may 
be  tarnished  ;  it  may  be  dissipated  in  vapor.  But 
the  trial  of  faith  is  much  more  precious  than  of  gold 
that  perisheth ;  the  results  of  spiritual  refining 
being  incomparably  superior  to  those  of  any  pro- 
cess undergone  by  the  precious  metals.  All  things 
terrestrial,  however  valuable,  grow  dim  in  the 
splendor  of  the  Christian's  heaven.  And  the  treas- 
ures there  laid  up  are  acquired  here.  They  are 
subjective,  not  objective  ;  personal,  not  relative  ; 
laid  up  within,  not  hoarded  without.  They  are  the 
entire  product  of  God's  gracious  operation  on  the  soul 
—  the  total  result  of  his  purifying  process,  carried 
on  in  the  regenerated  heart.  Those  treasures  ever 
increase  in  value.  Even  here  they  sufier  no  per- 
manent depreciation.     The  process  of  refining  ever 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES.  169 

advances ;  for,  though  Satan  is  busy  in  endeav  jrs 
to  introduce  alloy,  the  great  Assayer  detects  his 
counterfeits.  The  believer  is  often  in  the  furnace  ; 
but  his  testimony  is,  ''When  he  hath  tried  me, 
I  shall  come  forth  as  gold.''  How  many  individ- 
uals, how  many  nations,  once  wealthy,  become 
poor !  It  is  estimated  that  the  coinage  of  the 
world  loses,  by  wear,  loss  and  other  means,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  every  year. 
The  mines  of  Potosi,  and  many  others,  are  ex- 
hausted. The  Tagus  and  Pactolus  no  longer  roll 
down  golden  sands.  ''  But  the  gold  of  that  land 
is  good."  Those  treasures  come  from  a  source  ex- 
haustless  as  the  Creator  himself  All  that  is  want- 
ing is  an  enlargement  of  capacity  to  receive  ;  and 
that  is  guaranteed  for  eternity.  Paul  prays  for  the 
Ephesians  :  *'  That  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Father  of  glory,  may  give  unto  you 
the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  him  ;  the  eyes  of  your  understanding 
being  enlightened  ;  that  ye  may  know  what  is  the 
hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory 
of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints."  Yes,  it  requires 
a  divine  illumination  to  enable  Christians  to  dis- 
cover, and  an  assurance  from  God  to  authorize 
them  to  credit,  ''  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his 
15 


170  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

inheritance  in  the  saints."  A  constantly  approxi 
mating  conformity  to  God,  an  increasing  intimacy 
of  communion  with  him,  and  a  more  wise  and  active 
desire  to  make  others  happy,  form  a  wealth  with 
which  no  earthly  mine  can  compare.  Was  Moses 
infatuated,  when  he  esteemed  the  reproach  of 
Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt  ? 
Reader,  you,  doubtless,  have  your  day-dreams 
You  sometimes  suffer  Fancy  to  wave  her  wand,  an  J 
invest  you  with  a  princely  fortune.  Submit  your- 
self once  more  to  that  enchantment.  Surround 
yourself  with  all  imaginable  wealth.  Your  hall  of 
pleasures,  like  that  of  Ahasuerus,  shall  be  paved  with 
emerald.  Your  furniture  and  feasts  shall  surpass  Ori- 
ental sumptuousness.  Tissues  of  gold  and  silver,  mag- 
nificent embroideries,  the  most  precious  gems  and 
jewels,  shall  decorate  your  person.  Like  Aurung- 
zebe,  you  shall  roll  in  a  stately  carriage,  incrusted 
with  pearls  and  diamonds,  your  retinue  shall  extend 
for  leagues,  and  your  whole  equipage  glitter  in  the 
sun,  while  you  yourself  shall  be  the  richest  man  on 
the  globe.  Poor  man !  if  that  is  all  you  have  ! 
Have  you  yet  to  learn  that  such  riches  certainly 
make  to  themselves  wings,  and  fly  away  as  an 
eagle  towards  heaven ;  and  that,  while  they  stay 
even,  they  cannot  satisfy  ?    Suppose,  however,  that 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES.     .     171 

such  riches,  once  acquired,  were  secure  for  life 
Can  you  take  them  with  you  to  another  world? 
Order  your  coffin,  yea,  your  tomb,  to  be  filled ;  do 
they  go  with  you  ?  Can  your  disembodied  spirit 
take  the  iron  chest,  or  even  the  key,  through  the 
dark  valley  ?  Spiritual  treasures  alone  remain  not 
for  probate.  During  an  invasion,  when  every  one 
around  him  was  hastily  gathering  up  his  goods 
for  flight.  Bias,  one  of  the  wise  men  of  Greece, 
alone  remained  calm  ;  and  when  asked  why  he  took 
no  pains  to  save  anything,  he  replied,  "  I  carry  all 
my  treasure  with  me.'*  The  believer  carries  all  his 
treasures  with  him.  Come  who  may,  —  hostile  ar- 
mies of  men,  or  the  hosts  of  darkness,  —  his  heart 
need  not  fear.  At  the  approach  of  the  King  of  ter- 
rors, yea,  of  the  final  conflagration,  he  may  calmly 
protest,  ''  I  carry  all  my  treasures  with  me.'*  And 
he  goes  where  fire,  storm,  depreciation,  and  bank- 
ruptcy, are  aUke  unknown.  His  celestial  wardrobe 
and  treasures  are  forever  secure  against  moth,  rust 
and  thief. 

And  they  are  as  satisfying  as  they  are  secure, 
being,  in  their  own  nature,  suited  to  a  rational  soul. 
They  are  not  a  mere  means  to  an  end.  God  made 
the  immortal  spirit  for  himself,  to  enjoy  communion 
with  him  forever  ;  like  him  in  character  and  benev- 


172  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

olent  activity.  So  long  as  it  remains  alienated  and 
sslfish,  it  is  out  of  its  element,  and  must  be  miser- 
able. Solomon  made  an  extensive  experiment  with 
the  riches  of  this  world.  "I  gathered  me  silver 
^nd  gold,  and  the  peculiar  treasure  of  kings,  and 
)Y  the  provinces  ;  and  whatsoever  mine  eyes  de- 
sired, I  kept  not  from  them;  I  withheld  not  my 
heart  from  any  joy  :  and,  behold,  all  was  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit."  He  knew  whereof  he  affirmed, 
when  he  said,  "  There  is  that  maketh  himself  rich, 
yet  hath  nothing.''  The  wealth  there  is  in  holi- 
ness and  fellowship  with  Christ  surpasses  infinitely 
all  other  sources  of  enjoyment.  Was  ever  a  hap- 
pier man  on  this  globe  than  Paul  ?  ''  Sorrowful, 
yet  always  rejoicing  ;  poor,  yet  making  many  rich ; 
having  nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things." 
Who  were  the  enviable  persons  of  those  days — Ori- 
ental princes,  Koman  emperors,  or  the  Macedonian 
Christians,  who,  ''  in  a  great  trial  of  affliction,  had 
abundance  of  joy,  and  their  deep  poverty  abounded 
unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality  "  ?  What,  then, 
will  be  the  abundance  of  joy  in  such  treasures, 
where  they  are  perfected,  and  will  be  forever  accu- 
mulating 1 

This  is  coin  which  bears  the  imperial  superscrip- 
tion, and  is  current  everywhere.     It  is  accepted  at 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND     RICHES.  173 

the  gate  of  death  —  there,  where  the  gold  of  earth 
is  so  worthless.  "  The  rich  man  also  died,  and  was 
buried."  Could  his  wealth  buy  no  elixir  of  life  ? 
Could  not  that  purple  robe,  that  fine  linen,  keep  ojff 
disease  ?  Ah,  Dives  !  bid  thy  servants  bring  costly 
viands  once  more  ;  order  up  the  choice  wine  ;  send 
afar  for  all  those  skilled  in  medicine  ;  let  your  gay 
friends  stand  around  the  bed,  and  see  if  they  can- 
not laugh  death  away ;  let  them  open  the  coffers 
of  gold,  and  see  if  they  cannot  bribe  the  King  of 
terrors.     Ah  !  the  rich  man  also  dies  ! 

*«  Wherefore  should  I  die,  being  so  rich!"  ex- 
claimed a  wealthy  cardinal,  Henry  Beaufort.  ''  If 
the  whole  realm  would  save  my  life,  I  am  able 
either  by  policy  to  get  it,  or  by  treasure  to  buy  it. 
Will  not  death  be  bribed  ?  Will  money  do  nothing? " 

We  turn  to  Paulinus,  bishop  of  Nola.  He  is 
rich,  to  be  sure,  in  goods,  but  richer  in  graces. 
The  Goths  have  broken  into  the  city,  and,  like  so 
many  wolves,  rush  upon  their  prey.  Those  who 
have  trusted  to  their  treasures  are  now  tortured  to 
compel  a  disclosure  of  them.  The  good  bishop  falls 
into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  loses  all ;  but  what  does 
he  say  ?  ''  Lord,  let  me  not  be  troubled  for  my  gold 
and  silver ;  thou  knowest  it  is  not  my  treasure ; 
that  I  have  laid  up  in  heaven,  according  to  thy 
15* 


174  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

cooman^ .  I  was  warned  of  this  judgment  before 
it  came,  and  provided  for  it ;  and  where  all  my 
interest  is,  Lord,  thou  knowest.'' 

True,  it  was  not  the  rich  man's  wealth,  nor  any 
man's  wealth,  which  of  itself  kept  him  out  of 
heaven.  Lazarus  was  carried  to  the  bosom  of  one 
who  had  been  rich  in  flocks,  herds,  and  all  posses- 
sions. Nor  was  it  Lazarus'  poverty  that  carried 
him  to  heaven,  nor  his  sufferings  either.  He  was 
none  the  better  saint  for  his  sores,  or  his  penury, 
except  as  they  contributed  to  his  sanctification. 
Yet,  unless  Christ  was  mistaken,  ''It  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for 
a  rich  man  to  enter  heaven."  "Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Upon  first  thought,  it  seems  incredible  that  such 
wealth  and  such  a  weight  of  glory  should  be  in 
reserve  for  any  of  the  children  of  men.  There 
would,  indeed,  be  a  hopeless  incongruity  between 
present  character  and  future  exaltation,  were  it  not 
for  the  glory  thus  accruing  to  the  munificence  of 
God  through  Christ.  His  ultimate  design  in  saving 
sinners  is  to  bring  honor  to  the  person  and  priest- 
hood of  the  Great  Mediator,  "  that  in  the  ages  to 
come  he  mi^ht  show  the  exceeding  riches  of  his 
grace  in  his  kindness  towards  us,  through  Chris<-. 
Tesus  " 


HEAVENLY    HONOR    AND    RICHES.  175 

Riclies  of  gr^ce  are  now  exhibited,  but  their 
exceeding  fulness  cannot  be  known  in  the  present 
state.  Tht  great  day  of  disclosures  is  yet  to  come. 
Crowns  are  not  given  here ;  but  the  Lord,  the  right- 
eous Judge,  will  give  them  at  that  day  when  he 
shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  to  be 
admired  in  all  them  that  believe.  That  coronation 
day  will  be  public  to  the  universe.  Then  will  the 
King  of  kings  make  up  all  his  jewels ;  then  will 
he  display  all  his  purchased  treasures.  There  will 
be  a  divine  pomp,  a  glorious  splendor,  on  that  day. 
'*  Then  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness,  as  the  stars,  forever  and  ever.'' 
''  Then  the  trial  of  faith  in  all  the  redeemed  saints 
—  being  much  more  precious  than  of  gold  that 
perisheth,  though  it  be  tried  with  fire  —  will  be 
found  unto  praise,  and  honor,  and  glory ;  unto 
the  praise,  and  honor,  and  glory  of  God  the  Father, 
in  his  electing  love  ;  unto  the  praise,  and  honor, 
and  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  in  his  mediation ;  unto  the 
praise,  and  honor,  and  glory  of  the  Spirit  in  regen- 
eration and  sanctification  ;  unto  the  united,  equal, 
eternal  praise,  honor,  and  glory  of  the  triune  God, 
who  is  blessed  forever. 

Many  are  the  colla^teral  purposes  of  God,  in  the 


176  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

salvation  of  men  ;  but  all  centre  in  this,  an  eternal 
display  of  his  grace  in  the  gift  of  Christ.  The 
whole  of  God's  moral  government  has  a  reflexive 
aim ;  all  moral  arrangements  originating  in  him 
centre  also  in  him.  The  gift  of  his  Son  vsras  the 
result  of  an  infinite  and  eternal  impulse  of  love  ; 
and  while  ransomed  sinners  will  experience  its  full- 
est benefits,  yet  they  are  to  make  an  eternal  exhi- 
bition of  the  grace  of  that  gift,  for  the  glory  of  the 
giver.  Here  believers  are  only  stammering  on  the 
alphabet  of  praise,  and  honor,  and  glory  to  God. 
But  their  tongues  will  be  unloosed  at  the  day  of 
Christ's  appearing.  Then,  and  forever  after,  will 
they  strew  pal  m-branches  ;  then  will  they  sing,  Ho- 
sanna  to  the  Son  of  David !  blessed  be  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  :  hosanna  in  the 
highest! 


CHAPTER    XII. 

NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN. 

O,  xiappy,  happy  country !  where 

There  entereth  not  a  sin  ; 
And  death,  who  keeps  its  portals  fair, 

May  never  once  come  in. 
No  grief  can  change  their  day  to  night ; 
The  darkness  of  that  land  is  light : 
Sorrow  and  sighing  God  has  sent 
Far  thence,  to  endless  banishment. 
And  never  more  may  one  dark  tear 

Bedim  their  burning  skies  ; 
For  every  one  they  shed  while  here, 

In  fearful  agonies, 
Glitters  a  bright  and  dazzling  gem 
In  their  immortal  diadem. 

0.  Bowles. 

Is  this  the  believer's  only  heritage  ?  Does  this 
vale  of  tears  open  to  no  brighter  region  ?  To  this 
stormy  sea  is  there  no  quiet  haven  ?  Beyond  this 
firmament,  so  often  overcast,  is  there  no  cloudless 
sky  ?  We  toil  on,  struggling  with  the  elements, 
alternately  parched  and  chilled,  famished  and  sur- 
feited ;  we  baffet  with  human  selfishness  and  Sa- 
tanic malice  ;  we  grope  in  a  labyrinth  of  fallacies 


178  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

we  chase  fatuous  lights ;  calumny  shoots  her  poi- 
soned arrows  ;  bulletins  of  war  come  daily,  written 
over,  within  and  without,  in  blood  ;  the  earth  we 
stand  on  heaves  beneath  us  ;  presently  it  opens, 
and  we  are  swallowed  up. 

What  means  this  mysterious  drama  ?  Is  the 
whole  tale  thus  told  ?  Is  man's  life  only  a  riddle  ? 
Many  bright  dreams  have  we  ;  there  are  traditions 
of  Paradise  and  a  golden  age ;  for  thousands  of 
years  have  men  been  talking  of  Hesperian  regions ; 
but  for  thousands  of  years  have  they  dreamed, 
sinned,  and  suffered,  till  they  drop  into  the  grave. 

Amid  this  perplexity  and  gloom,  a  voice  is  heard, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.''  We  go  to  him  ; 
we  find  him  infinitely  benignant ;  yet  perfect  rest 
we  do  not  find.  The  sun  loses  none  of  its  fierce- 
ness thereby,  nor  frosts  aught  of  their  chill ;  dis- 
ease has  the  same  virulence,  and  slanderous  tongues 
have  the  same  venom  as  before.  Emancipation  from 
sin  and  its  consequences  is  anything  but  complete. 
Even  to  the  day  of  our  exit  from  earth  do  we  go  on 
sighing  0,  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?  How, 
then,  is  it  true,  ''  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in 
the  Lord"  ?     What  are  we  to  think  of  those  who, 


NO    TEARS    IN    HEaVEN.  i79 

up  to  the  hour  of  their  departure,  still  sin,  suffer, 
and  grieve  '^  The  messenger  of  the  Apocalypse 
answers,  *'  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst 
any  more  ;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor 
an}  heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters  ;  and  God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." 

Complete  deliverance,  then,  from  all  evils,  is  the 
future  portion  of  believers.  They  enjoy  exemption 
from  physical  evils.  The  resurrection-body  will  be 
perfectly  free  from  all  infirmities ;  all  its  organs  dis- 
charge their  offices  with  perfect  exactness,  and  the 
vital  forces  play  forever,  with  unabating  freshness. 
But,  without  dwelling  upon  considerations  of  that 
kind,  we  are  authorized  to  affirm  an  entire  removal 
of  every  evil  incident  to  the  present  constitution  of 
things ;  and,  keeping  within  the  range  of  scriptural 
imagery,  we  might  safely  enlarge  upon  many  points 
of  joyful  contrast.  But  allusion  to  a  few  only  will 
suffice. 

The  inconveniences  of  hunger  and  thirst  will  not 
be  experienced.  What  those  inconveniences  are, 
in  their  extreme,  was  known  by  Hagar  when  she 
said,  ''Let  me  not  see  the  death  of  the  child!*' 
by  the  fainting  Israelites  when  they  dared  not  to 


180  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

taste  the  dropping  honey  in  the  wood  because  of 
SauFs  adjuration ;  by  the  Saviour  on  the  cross, 
when  he  cried,  ''I  thirst;''  by  many  a  perishing 
caravan  ;  by  many  a  shipwrecked  crew ;  by  many 
a  starving  province.  And  who  is  there  that,  by  his 
own  experience,  has  not  often  been  reminded  of 
the  curse,  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat 
bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ''  1  But,  to 
the  redeemed,  that  curse  reaches  not  beyond  the 
grave.  Lazarus  is  no  longer  spurned  at  the  gate 
of  affluence  ;  he  has  ceased  begging  crumbs  ;  nor 
does  any  one  there  beg  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his 
parched  tongue.  "  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead 
them  unto  living  fountains  of  waters.'* 

0,  to  receive  manna  from  the  hands  of  Jesus 
Christ !  What  flavor,  beyond  angels'  food,  will  that 
possess !  And,  once  seated  with  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  there  will  be  perpetual  rest,  but  no 
craving,  and  no  satiety. 

Nor  will  there  be  any  imperfection  of  the  senses. 
The  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall  sing  as  loud  and  joy- 
ously as  any.  Every  deaf  ear,  too,  shall  be  un- 
stopped. And  how  will  many  a  Bartimeus  leap  for 
joy  when  he  opens  his  eyes  for  the  first  time  on  such 
views  as  feast  the  v'sion  in  the  Better  Land ! 


NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN.  181 

It  is  not  long  since  a  blind  Hindoo  boy,  who  lived 
in  a  miserable  hole  which  had  been  excavated  for 
him  in  the  ground,  was  drawing  near  his  end.  But 
his  mind  had  been  enlightened,  through  the  instruc- 
tions of  a  missionary,  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  "  Let 
me  die,''  said  he  ;  "I  do  not  like  to  stay  in  this 
dark  place ;  I  will  go  where  there  is  light.  I  know 
the  words  are  true,  that  God  sent  his  Son  to  die  for 
the  sins  of  the  world.''  Hereupon  he  began  to 
repeat  some  verses  which  he  had  learned.  One 
especially  pleased  him  above  all  others,  for  it  seemed 
to  suit  his  blind  condition.  It  was,  "  I  knew  that 
my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he  shall  stand,  at  the 
latter  day,  upon  the  earth ;  and  in  my  flesh  I  shall 
see  God,  whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  my  eyes 
shall  behold,  and  not  another. ' '  In  his  last  moments, 
catching  glimpses  of  what  was  before  him,  he  ex- 
claimed, ''  I  see  ! — Now  I  have  light !  — I  see  him 
in  his  beauty  !  —  Tell  the  missionary  that  the  blind 
sees  !  —  I  glory  in  Christ !  —  I  glory  !  "  —  As  he 
said  this,  he  slept  in  Jesus,  and  angels  bore,  his 
happy  spirit  to  that  place  where  he  beholds  what 
no  eye  here  hath  seen,  nor  ear  heard. 

Yes,  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth.     In  my 
flesh  I  shall  see  God,  whom  I  shall  see  for  myself, 
and  my  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  another.'' 
16 


182  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

There  is  no  fatigue  in  heaven.  "  There  remaineth. 
therefore,  a  rest  to  the  people  of  God.''  To  their 
activity  there  is  indeed  no  cessation.  They  are 
before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day  and 
night  in  his  temple.  But  there  is  no  exhaustion,  no 
languor  attending  that  service.  They  never  grow 
listless.  Theirs  is  the  bliss  of  ceaseless  activity  and 
unabating  vigor.  It  is  well  that  on  earth  the 
wicked  find  so  many  interruptions  to  wickedness. 
It  is  well  that  so  much  time  must  be  spent  by  them 
in  sleep,  and  by  most  of  them  in  procuring  a  sub- 
sistence. If  they  had  uninterrupted  leisure  to  obey 
depraved  impulses,  what  thousand-fold  more  horrid 
crimes  would  be  committed !  But  God's  people 
would  gladly  even  now  labor  without  cessation  for 
his  glory.  With  what  satisfaction,  then,  may  they 
think  of  a  world  where  is  no  night ;  no  loss  of  time 
in  sleep  ;  no  lassitude ;  no  enfeebled  powers ;  no 
tottering  steps  ;  where  the  years  never  come  in 
which  they  have  no  pleasure  ;  where,  to  all  eter- 
nity, there  is  not  one  interruption  to  their  holy 
employments,  but  where  the  quiet  of  repose  and  the 
pleasure  of  activity  coexist  blissfully  and  forever. 

There  is  no  sickness,  pain,  or  death  in  heaven. 
"  The  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick."  In  the 
salutations  of  that  world,  inquiries  after  one  another's 


NO    TEARS     IN    HEAVEN.  183 

health  find  no  place.  From  age  to  age,  not  one 
will  speak  of  being  indisposed ;  but,  in  the  glow  of 
immortal  youth,  every  one  of  those  thousands  will 
say  he  is  well.  ''Almost  well^*'  said  Kichard 
Baxter,  when  asked  on  his  death-bed  how  he  did  ; 
and  now  he  is  well  indeed. 

Terrible  is  the  derangement  sin  has  made  in  our 
physical  constitution.  It  has  fitted  every  nerve  to 
be  an  instrument  of  anguish.  Not  a  point  of  con- 
tact do  we  present  to  outward  objects,  but  may  be 
the  inlet  of  more  agony  than  tongue  can  teU ;  and 
all  is  the  work  of  sin.  The  array  of  diseases  to 
which  man  is  subject  is  truly  appalling ;  and  for  every 
one  of  them  sin  is  primarily  responsible.  But  all 
remains  of  sin,  original  or  actual,  believers  leave 
behind  them,  and  hence,  too,  all  sickness  and  pain. 
The  healing  art  is  a  terrestrial  profession.  Even  the 
balm  in  Gilead,  and  the  Physician  there,  perform  all 
their  work  this  side  the  grave.  Some  scars,  perhaps, 
but  no  wounds,  go  to  heaven.  There  are  no  funerals 
there  ;  no  shrouds,  cofi&ns,  hearses,  cemeteries.  In 
that  congregation  there  are  no  habiliments  of  mourn- 
ing. There  is  nothing  sable  in  Paradise.  Spotless 
white  is  the  court  dress  of  heaven.  The  recollection 
of  suffering  will  cease  tc  be  painful.     Martyrs  can 


184  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

speak  of  fagots  and  the  rack,  and  others  listen,  with- 
out shuddering. 

Outward  annoyances  will  cease.  There,  in  a 
sense  only  shadowed  forth  in  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-first  Psaln,,  ''  The  sun  shall  not  smite  thee 
by  day,  nor  the  moon  by  night,  The  Lord  shall 
preserve  thee  from  all  evils ;  he  shall  preserve  thy 
soul.  The  Lord  shall  preserve  thy  going  out  and 
thy  coming  in,  from  this  time  forth,  and  even  for 
evermore.''  It  was  only  while  the  earth  remaineth, 
that  God  said,  cold  and  heat  shall  not  cease.  God 
has  spoken  of  no  summer  or  winter  in  heaven.  That 
world,  if  it  move  at  all,  moves  not  in  such  an  ecliptic 
as  ours.  There  are  no  tropics,  no  polar  regions 
there.  Pitfalls  cannot  be  found  there,  neither  do 
thorns  grow  there.  It  was  the  ground  of  this  world, 
not  of  heaven,  that  was  cursed. 

There  is  complete  exemption  from  every  evil  grow- 
ing out  of  our  present  social  relations.  Manifold  as 
those  relations  are,  rich  as  is  the  harvest  of  enjoyment 
which  they  might  afford,  if  sin  had  not  deranged 
them,  so  manifold  and  so  bitter  are  the  fruits  of  their 
perversion.  The  amount  of  domestic  unhappiness, 
for  instance,  is  beyond  all  estimate.  Abused  friend- 
ship is  an  ample  source  of  disquiet.  Many  a  one 
besides  Caesar  has  exclaimed,  "  TAow,  too,  Brutus!" 


NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN.  185 

Between  rulers  and  the  ruled,  there  is  not  a  little  of 
jarring.  International  interests  are  perpetually  in 
conflict.  Many  a  soul  sighs,  "0  that  I  had  wings 
like  a  dove !  for  then  would  I  fly  away,  and  be  at 
rest."  Well,  such  wings  are  presently  furnished, 
and  the  saint  flies  away,  and  is  at  rest.  He  alights 
where  is  no  "battle  of  the  warrior,  with  confused 
noise,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood;"  ''but  there 
the  glorious  Lord  will  be  unto  us  a  place  of  broad 
rivers  and  streams  ;  wherein  shall  go  no  galley  with 
oars,  neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereby." 

Friendships  do  not  cool  in  heaven.  If  misunder- 
standings are  possible,  none  are  too  proud  to  make 
explanations.  There  is  no  parting  there.  The 
redeemed  forget  how  to  sigh.  And  never  are  they 
annoyed  by  slanderous  tongues.  ''Woe  is  me," 
sighed  the  psalmist,  and  with  him  many  an  other, 
"  woe  is  me  that  I  sojourn  in  Meshech,  that  I  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Kedar !  What  shall  be  given  unto 
thee,  or  what  shall  be  done  unto  thee,  thou  false 
tongue  ?  "  From  its  actual  occupation,  one  would 
think  that  this  member  was  given  man  only  for  evil 
speaking  and  idle  talking.  0,  how  much  precious 
time  runs  thus  to  waste  I  How  many  daggers  are 
thus  plunged  deep  !     How  do  blood  and  tears  flow 

apace 

16* 


186  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

I  shall  never  forget  a  little  incident  of  foreign 
travel.  After  months  spent  in  noting  points  of 
resemblance  and  contrast  between  other  countries 
and  our  own  ;  after  viewing  persons  in  all  situations, 
from  the  throne  downward,  one  day,  in  the  street,  I 
observed  a  lady  in  tears.  Among  the  thousands 
met  with,  this  was  the  first  instance  of  visible  grief. 
It  was  impressive.  The  thought  at  once  arose.  Then 
they  weep  here,  too  !  Here,  as  on  the  western  con- 
tinent, are  tongues  charged  with  venom  !  And  sensi- 
tive hearts  are  beating  and  bleeding  here  as  at  home  ! 
But  in  the  Better  Land  we  shall  travel  very  far 
before  we  meet  a  surprise  like  that.  Long,  long 
centuries  must  we  follow  the  Lamb  before  meeting 
one  whose  eyes  are  red  with  weeping.  The  spirit- 
ual eye  does  not  secrete  tears.  It  is  here  only  that 
we  can  weep  with  them  that  weep  ;  there,  we  can 
only  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice.  In  its  common 
acceptation  there  is  no  sympathy  in  heaven,  because 
there  is  no  occasion  for  it. 

Take  heart,  then,  ye  servants  of  God,  who  are 
maligned, "who  are  unrighteously  dealt  with.  Take 
heart,  thou  man  of  God,  whom  ungrateful,  bigoted 
Greece  once  drove,  and  would  still  gladly  drive,  from 
her  shores  ;  and  ye  who  protest,  under  the  bastinado, 
against  Armenian  superstitions  ;  take  heart,  ye  who 


NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN.  187 

are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  the  world  over ; 
God  shall  soon  wipe  away  all  tears  from  your  eyes ; 
and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow, 
nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain  ;  for 
the  former  things  are  passed  away. 

Mental  disorders  and  perturbations  will  be  at  an 
end.  How  far  the  effects  of  existing  obliquities  in 
the  mind  will  remain  in  a  future  world,  I  make  no 
affirmation.  But  that  no  new  fallacies  will  possess 
the  mind,  we  may  boldly  assert ;  and  that  all  the 
faculties  will  come  into  far  more  efficient  and  har- 
monious action  than  ever  before,  we  may  not  doubt. 
The  imagination  will  be  in  due  subjection ;  the 
judgment  wisely  regulated ;  the  memory  greatly 
quickened,  and  the  association  of  ideas  determined 
by  principles  of  the  highest,  holiest  philosophy. 
The  emotive  faculties  of  the  soul  will  also  come 
under  the  sway  of  a  sanctified  logic.  To  those  who 
are  here  liable  to  be  carried  away  by  surges  of  mere 
emotion,  it  must  seem  a  high  happiness  to  have  their 
feelings  all  sweetly  controlled  by  a  will  that  is  calm, 
firm,  and  intuitively  wise.  The  soul  will  not  then, 
as  now,  suffer  from  excess  of  feeling,  or  a  stupefy- 
ing reaction.  All  tears  of  joy,  no  less  than  of 
sorrow,  will  be  wiped  away.  Great  must  be  his 
exultation,  when  the  saint  finds  himself  in  no  farther 


188  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

danger  of  feeling  too  much,  as  well  as  too  little  ; 
when  he  finds  a  perfect  balance  introduced  among 
the  powers  and  affections  of  the  soul,  all  of  them 
working  harmoniously  and  vigorously,  former  jar- 
ring and  obliquities  completely  at  an  end.  What 
bliss,  to  have  all  the  unholy  passions,  —  pride,  an- 
ger, envy,  —  those  vultures  of  the  mind,  forever 
banished  from  the  breast ! 

But  most  of  all,  there  will  be  no  sin  there.  This 
consideration  underlies  all  these  points,  and  gives  to 
them  all  their  charm,  for  without  this  they  would 
not  be  worth  considering.  Without  holiness  heaven 
would  not  be  heaven.  Sin  is  the  evil  of  evils.  To 
be  freed  from  its  power  is  the  Christian's  strongest 
wish.  Well,  it  is  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect  that  departed  saints  are  come,  —  to  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  even  as  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect.  They  are  washed 
in  innocency,  pure  and  perfect,  when  the  wedding 
garment  is  put  on.  Of  allurements  to  sin  there  are 
none.  No  one  prays  there,  ''Lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation ;''  safely  do  they  follow  the  Lamb  whitherso- 
ever he  leadeth  them,  and  it  is  never  into  tempta- 
tion. Into  that  paradise  the  serpent  cannot  intrude. 
In  the  river  of  life  there  are  no  swellings,  as  of 
Jordan,    at  which  the    roaring   lion    cometh    up. 


NO    TEARS    IN    HEAVEN.  189 

Satan's  fiery  darts  cannot  surmount  the  walls  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  The  decalogue  is  not  needed 
there.  The  groves  and  high  places  of  that  fair 
country  are  never  abused  to  idolatrous  purposes. 
There  is  no  Canaanite  in  the  land.  In  that  abode 
there  are  no  lusts,  no  relics  of  sin,  no  ebullitions  of 
passions ;  hence,  no  upbraiding  of  conscience,  and 
no  confession  to  be  made.  Paul  never  exclaims, 
"0,  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  ? '' 

"  No  hidden  grief, 
No  wild  and  cheerless  vision  of  despair, 
No  vain  petition  for  a  swift  relief. 
No  tearful  eyes,  no  broken  hearts  are  there. 

The  storm's  black  wing 
Is  never  spread  athwart  celestial  skies ; 
Its  wailings  blend  not  with  the  voice  of  spring 
As  some  too  tender  flow'ret  fades  and  dies. 

Let  us  depart, 
If  home  like  this  await  the  weary  soul. 
Look  up,  thou  stricken  one !     Thy  wounded  hear 
Shall  bleed  no  more  at  sorrow's  stern  control." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

HOLINESS    OF    HEAVEN.     • 

0,  mother  dear,  Jerusalem, 

When  shall  I  come  to  thee  ? 
When  shall  my  sorrows  have  an  end. 

Thy  joys  when  shall  I  see  ? 
O,  happy  harbor  of  God's  saints ! 

0 ,  sweet  and  pleasant  soil ! 
In  thee  no  sorrows  can  be  found,  — 

No  grief,  no  care,  no  toil. 

William  Burkixt. 

Novf  just  as  the  gates  were  opened  to  let  in  the  men,  I  looked  in 
after  them,  and  behold,  the  city  shone  like  the  sun  ;  the  streets, 
also,  were  paved  with  gold  ;  and  in  them  walked  many  men,  with 
crowns  on  their  heads,  palms  in  their  hands,  and  golden  harps  to 
sing  praises  withal.  There  were  also  of  them  that  had  wings,  and 
they  answered  one  another  without  intermission,  saying,  "  Holy, 
holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  ! ' '  And  after  that  they  shut  up  the  gates  ; 
which  when  I  had  seen,  I  wished  myself  among  them. 

BUNTAN. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  a  great  city  is  a  great 
evil.  Aristotle  insisted  that  governments  ought  to 
prevent  the  accumulation  of  inhabitants  in  large 
towns.  In  modern  times  more  than  one  sovereign 
has  attempted  to  do  it.  It  is  undeniable  that,  while 
commerce,  the  arts,  and  other  branches  of  civiliza 


HOLINESS    OF    HEAVEN.  191 

tion,  are  greatly  indebted  tc  cities,  at  the  same 
time  it  has  been  at  a  fearful  expense  of  life,  com- 
fort and  morals.  It  is  in  these  populous  centres 
that  the  pestilence  dwells  permanently,  or  most 
frequently  pays  its  terrific  visits.  An  excess  of 
burials  over  births  is  no  unusual  circumstance.  The 
poverty  and  manifold  wretchedness,  commonly  con- 
cealed from  public  view,  are  truly  appalling.  But 
it  is  in  the  ingenious  and  stupendous  frauds,  in  the 
covert  and  shameless  vices,  in  the  records  of  police 
and  other  courts,  —  those  vast  folios  of  loathsome 
and  startling  abominations,  —  that  we  find  most 
convincing  proof  that  a  great  city  is  a  great  evil. 
Whatever  exceptions  there  may  have  been,  what- 
ever of  splendor  and  refinement  may  generally  be 
found  in  them,  it  has  still  been  true  that  ever  since 
Nimrod  laid  the  foundations  of  Babel  and  other 
cities  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  within  these  crowded 
precincts  have  been  the  most  productive  hot-beds  of 
corruption.  It  is  there  that  juvenile  depravity  has 
ripened  with  precocious  vigor.  It  is  there  alone 
that  wickedness  becomes  permanently  and  com- 
pactly organized,  presenting  a  consolidated  front  to 
wholesome  laws  and  virtuous  sentiments.  There 
only  are  found  the  theatre,  and  other  public  spira- 
cles of  the  bottomless  pit. 


192  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

"  Thither  flow, 
As  to  a  common  and  most  noisome  sewer, 
The  dregs  and  feculence  of  every  land." 

But  is  this  necessarily  so  ?  Is  there  any  essential 
incompatibility  between  a  congregated  population 
and  general  purity  and  piety  ?  Is  effeminacy,  is 
concentrated  iniquity,  inherent  in  the  municipal 
organization  ?  Ah !  blessed  be  God,  there  is  one 
city,  called  ''the  holy  city,''  over  which  the  Sa- 
viour never  weeps,  but  in  which  he  ever  rejoices  ; 
of  which  he  is  the  everlasting  light  and  glory 
''  And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything 
that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh  abomina- 
tion, or  maketh  a  lie,  but  they  which  are  written  in 
the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  The  guarantee  to  the 
perfect  purity  of  New  Jerusalem  lies  in  the  fact 
that  its  King  is  a  king  of  infinite,  immutable  holi- 
ness. His  intense,  peculiar  presence  must  exclude 
all  the  impure,  and  must  completely  and  powerfully 
assimilate  to  himself  all  who  bear,  in  any  measure, 
a  moral  resemblance. 

With  regard  to  unfallen  angels,  it  would  seem 
that  the  great  crisis  in  their  history  is  past.  At  a 
period  of  revolt  they  remained  loyal ;  and,  without 
presumption,  we  may  suppose  them  to  be  already 


HOLINESS    OF    HEAVEN.  193 

confirmed  in  holiness.  Certainly,  at  the  consumma- 
tion of  all  things,  their  character  and  state  will  be 
establi«;hed  beyond  all  uncertainty. 

But  with  regard  to  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  — 
they  who  alone,  not  being  original  citizens,  enter 
there, — it  appears  that  they  become  at  once  freed 
from  all  original  sin.  That  deep-seated  and  per- 
vading corruption  of  their  nature  is  never  wholly 
removed  in  this  world.  Despite  regeneration,  and 
the  farthest  advances  in  sanctification,  the  body  of 
death  remains  a  fearful  encumbrance.  The  conse- 
quence is  a  continued  struggle,  and,  along  with  all 
the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  an  intermingling  of  irregu- 
lar desires  and  unholy  emotions.  But  that  conflict 
terminates  at  death.  The  stains  of  apostasy  are 
then  all  effaced,  and  believers  wake  up  in  the  like- 
ness of  God.  Once  introduced  into  the  heavenly 
metropolis,  where  the  soul  is  perfectly  exposed  to 
that  glory  of  God  which  is  the  light  of  heaven,  the 
saint  has  no  desire  and  no  need  of  concealment. 
A  perfect  transparency  pervades  his  spirit.  He  has 
now  no  secret  sins  to  be  set  in  the  light  of  God's 
countenance.  ''  There  can  in  no  wise  enter  therein 
anything  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh 
abomination."  Inbred  depravity,  that  awful  source 
of  all  mischief  and  abominations,  will  be  completely 
17 


194  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

eradicated.  It  cannot  pass  the  threshold  of  that 
paradise.  But  in  the  holiness  of  saints  in  heaven 
there  is  something  more  than  the  absence  of  all 
proclivity  to  evil.  Their  excellence  is  not  simply 
the  transparency  of  a  quiet  fountain,  or  the  serenity 
of  ether.  It  is  more  positive.  It  implies  an  un- 
clouded apprehension  and  approval  of  what  is  holy. 
There  is  in  the  souls  of  glorified  believers  a  perfect 
propension  toward  all  that  is  excellent.  When  the 
moral  vision  of  any  one  on  earth  has  been  rectified, 
every  glimpse  of  holiness  appears  refreshing.  Find 
it  in  the  temple,  find  it  in  an  ordinance,  find  it  in 
saint  or  angel,  it  is  lovely.  But  when  holiness  is 
seen  at  its  source,  then  is  it  ravishing.  There  is  none 
holy  as  the  Lord.  We  sometimes  speak  of  a  holy 
man,  and  occasionally  we  meet  with  what  looks 
like  a  stray  beam  of  divine  effulgence ;  but,  how 
refracted  !  How  easily  dimmed  !  How  unlike  its 
ineffable  and  inextinguishable  source  !  God  is  light, 
and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all.  There  is  a  sun 
whose  rays  cannot  be  sullied.  On  the  stagnant 
marsh  and  in  the  noisome  dungeon  they  are  as 
uncontaminated  as  in  their  glorious  home. 

But  how  differently  must  the  glory  of  the  thrice 
holy  Jel^ovah  appear  to  one  in  his  immediate  pres- 
ence, —  to  one  whose  spiritual  eye  is  no  longer 


HOLINESS    OP    HEAVEN.  195 

• 

defective !  "0,  what  ardent  love/'  exclaimed 
Socrates,  "would  virtue  inspire,  if  she  could  be 
seen!''  "As  for  me,"  exclaims  the  longing  pil- 
grim, "  I  will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness  !  " 
and  awaking,  at  length,  in  the  divine  likeness,  this 
longing  shall  be  satisfied.  "Blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God."  And  when  that 
sun  of  heaven  rises  on  the  soul,  it  is  as  life  from  the 
dead.  Those  orient  splendors  quicken  it  into  a 
holy  activity.  There  are  no  impediments  to  a  vig- 
orous development  of  the  sanctified  powers  ;  no 
counter- working  of  unsubdued  sin ;  no  consciousness 
of  guilt ;  no  distraction  from  ignorance  or  forget- 
fulness  ;  but  a  steady,  ardent  advance  in  whatever 
is  right  and  excellent.  It  was  only  because  still  in 
the  terrestrial  Jerusalem  that  Isaiah  cried  out, 
"  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone  ;  because  I  am  a 
man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  of  unclean  lips ;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts !  "  But  in  heaven 
there  is  no  dread,  no  shame,  nor  anything  to  inter 
rup:  the  ceaseless  progress  of  holy  attainment. 
God  is  all,  and  in  all.  Self  there  comes  into  its 
proper  place.  The  law  of  equal  love  to  neighbors, 
and  supreme  love  to  God,  sweetly  sways  all  minds. 
Covetousness,   which  worketh  so   many  abomina- 


196  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

tions,  nevef  gains  admittance.  Saints  can  look,  year 
after  year,  it  the  jasper  and  topaz  in  the  foundation, 
at  the  immense  pearls  in  the  gates,  and  at  the  pure 
gold  everywhere,  without  once  wishing  to  appro- 
priate anything  to  themselves.  Naboth  has  no 
neighbor  to  compass  his  destruction  for  the  sake  of 
his  vineyard.  Judas  has  gone  to  his  own  place, 
and  with  him  all  the  avaricious,  fraudulent,  rapa- 
cious sons  of  earth,  who  ran  greedily  after  the  error 
of  Balaam  for  reward.  In  the  New  Jerusalem  they 
have  all  things  in  common,  and  that  is  the  only 
city  Avhere  communism  is  safe  or  desirable. 

Neither  is  there  any  desire  in  heaven  for  social 
superiority ;  no  self-seeking  that  can  be  gratified 
with  elevation  above  others.  Along  with  the  love 
of  lucre,  ambition  has  contributed  much  to  make 
this  world  so  unlike  to  that  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness. But  heaven  is  the  abode  of  humility. 
Saints  do  not  grow  vain-glorious  by  being  advanced 
to  familiarity  with  angels,  yea,  with  the  Lamb  of 
God  himself.  They  are  all  subject  one  to  another, 
and  are  clothed  with  humility.  In  that  temple 
there  is  no  eagerness  for  the  chief  seats ;  at  that 
marriage-supper  there  is  no  seeking  of  the  upper- 
most rooms.  Nothing  is  done  through  strife  or  vain- 
glory, but  in  lowliness  of  mind  each  esteems  oth- 


HOLINESS    OF    HEAVEN.  197 

ers  better  than  himself.  Ostentation  is  unknown 
there.  A  i.ommon  attire,  the  white  robe,  is  furnished 
to  all ;  but  no  phylacteries  are  there.  In  their  de- 
portment and  praises  there  is  no  effort  to  attract 
attention  or  admiration.  The  Pharisee's  trumpet  is 
unheard.  In  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity,  not 
with  fleshly  wisdom,  but  by  the  grace  of  God,  do 
they  have  their  conversation  in  that  world. 

Does  spiritual  culture  have  an  engrossing  interest 
with  me  ?  Is  the  holy  education  of  my  immortal 
soul  the  object  of'  earnest  effort  and  unceasing 
prayer  ?  Who  that  looks  for  an  entrance  into  the 
New  Jerusalem  would  not  say.  Close  the  prison 
door  upon  me  ;  chain  me  to  the  oar ;  place  me  on 
the  rack  ;  let  all  outward  evils  befall  me,  if  I  may 
but  be  like  my  Saviour,  —  pure,  even  as  he  is  pure. 

If  there  be  in  the  universe  such  a  place  as  the 
Elysium  of  the  ancients,  or  the  Paradise  of  the 
Moslems,  may  the  holy  God  deliver  us  from  such 
abodes  of  inanity  and  impurity !  Scarcely  more 
scriptural  than  the  views  of  Pagans  and  Mohammed- 
ans are  those  of  not  a  few  nominal  Christians.  In 
this  age  of  utilitarian  schemes,  it  is  quite  character- 
istic that  a  sermon  should  have  been  published  on 
the  ''  Utility  of  Heavenly  Bliss  !  " 

The  number  is  not  small  who  appear  to  think  of 

17# 


198  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

heavGL,  and  desire  it,  only  because  they  must  die, 
and  go  somewhere.  They  consent,  from  necessity, 
to  choose  it  as  the  least  of  two  evils.  Few,  it  would 
seem,  have  any  intelligent  scriptural  aspiration  after 
the  blessedness  of  heaven ;  panting  for  that  world 
mainly  because  therein  dwelleth  righteousness ; 
because  the  holy  God  and  the  spotless  Lamb  are  the 
light  thereof;  because  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter 
therein  anything  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever 
worketh  abomination,  or  maketh  a  lie.  *'I  long 
for  untainted  purity!  '^  said  a  departing  pilgrim;  ''  I 
long  for  untainted  purity  !  '*  May  my  last  end  be 
like  his.  ''As  for  me,  I  will  behold  thy  face  in 
righteousness.  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake 
with  thy  likeness." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN. 

There  shall  He  welcome  thee,  when  thou  shalt  stand 
On  his  bright  morning  hills,  with  smiles  more  sweet 
Than  when  at  first  he  took  thee  by  the  hand, 
Through  the  fair  earth  to  lead  thy  tender  feet ; 
He  shall  bring  back,  but  brighter,  broader  still, 
Life's  early  glory  to  thine  eyes  ;  again 
Shall  clothe  thy  spirit  with  new  strength,  and  fill 
Thy  leaping  heart  with  warmer  love  than  then. 

Bryant. 

In  the  minds  of  many,  future  blessedness  resolves 
itself  into  little  else  than  escape  from  future  punish- 
ment, and  from  the  inconveniences  of  the  present 
life.  It  is  to  them  the  consummation  of  ease  ;  per- 
petual repose  from  labor  and  suffering ;  a  quietism 
so  complete  as  to  admit  of  no  effort ;  an  Elysium, 
on  whose  hazy  horizon  and  in  whose  balmy  atmos- 
phere no  cloud  ever  rises  ;  where  everything  is  qui- 
escent save  the  river  of  life,  and  that  soon  discharges 
itself  into  the  Dead  Sea ;  where,  indeed,  the  nega- 
tion is  so  complete  as  to  admit  not  only  of  no  trouble, 
but  scarcely  of  anything  else. 


200  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Others,  having  more  sentimental  activity  of  mind, 
not  satisfied  with  a  scene  monotonous  and  torpid, 
introduce  more  that  is  positive  and  life-like.  Theirs 
is  a  paradise  of  spacious  groves  and  lawns  ;  of  taste- 
ful avenues  and  bowers  ;  of  soft  breezes  perfumed  by 
perennial  flowers  ;  where  society  the  most  cultivated 
is  always  at  hand,  including  companionable  angels ; 
where  all  are  very  beautiful  and  very  graceful,  and 
have  the  most  exquisite  sensibilities ;  where  are  no 
sighs,  no  farewells,  no  rudeness ;  where  there  is 
nothing  in  particular  to  do  but  to  saunter  over  beds 
of  violets,  or  muse  in  some  sequestered  spot,  lulled 
by  the  softened  notes  of  distant  cherubim. 

True,  when  we  reflect  that  toil  and  suffering  are 
a  part  of  the  penalty  under  which  our  fallen  race  now 
labor ;  that  bereavements  are  unavoidable ;  that  dis- 
appointment comes  from  the  failure  of  plans ;  heart- 
aches from  poverty,  and  ingratitude,  and  in  general 
from  the  calculating  selfishness  of  this  world ;  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  drying  up  of  these  sources  of 
sorrow  should  sometimes  seem  the  perfection  of  bliss ; 
that  the  cessation  of  these  sources  of  annoyance 
should  seem  all  that  is  necessary  to  constitute  heaven. 
Nor  is  it  strange  that  even  sanctified  minds,  and  par- 
ticularly the  less  reflecting,  while  longing  to  be  free 
from  sin,  should  also,  in  their  desires  for  freedom 


ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN.  201 

from  its  present  penal  consequences,  unduly  magnify 
the  negative  elements  of  future  blessedness.  It  is 
natural,  and  justifiable,  too,  that  such  of  God's 
people  as  have  suffered  much  from  physical  infirmi- 
ties, yes,  that  all  of  them  should  look  joyfully  to  the 
hour  of  death  as  the  hour  of  release  from  fatigue 
and  pain.  We  sympathize  with  prophets  stoned 
and  tormented  ;  with  primitive  Christians  in  their 
baptism  of  blood  ;  with  the  hunted  Waldenses ; 
with  persecuted  Protestants,  who  have  come  out  from 
corrupt  Christian  organizations,  and  from  Judaism, 
Mohammedanism,  and  Heathenism ;  we  sympathize 
with  them  all,  as  they  sigh  for  their  abode,  "where 
the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  where  the 
weary  are  at  rest.''  Joy  to  you,  ye  martyrs  of 
Jesus !  No  chain,  or  scourge,  or  fagot,  can  touch 
you  in  the  world  whither  ye  are  gone  !  Ye  living 
and  suffering  witnesses  for  the  truth,  we  give  you 
apostolic  greeting :  ''So  that  we  ourselves  glory 
in  you  in  the  churches  of  God,  for  your  patience 
and  faith  in  all  your  persecutions  and  tribulations 
that  ye  endure.  Which  is  a  manifest  token  of  the 
righteous  judgment  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  counted 
worthy  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  which  ye  also 
suffer.  Seeing  it  is  a  righteous  thing  with  God  to 
recompense  tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  you ; 


202  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

and  to  you,  ivho  are  troubled,  rest  with  us,  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his 
mighty  angels/'  And,  ye  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
Lord,  now  wasting  with  consumption,  tortured  by 
nervous  derangement,  or  otherwise  racked  by  pain, 
we  congratulate  you  on  your  approach  to  that  world, 
the  inhabitant  whereof  shall  never  say,  ''I  am  sick/' 
And  ye  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  I  hear  a 
voice  from  heaven,  saying,  "Write,  Blessed  are 
the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  from  henceforth  ; 
yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their 
labors,  and  their  works  do  follow  them.''  Ay,  ye 
denizens  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  ye  authorized  fu- 
gitives from  the  bondage  of  this  nether  region,  we 
wish  ourselves  with  you  in  that  asylum  of  the  free, 
whence  none  can  ever  reclaim  you  for  fresh  mana- 
cles and  stripes ! 

But  a  heaven  of  mere  rest,  in  the  literal  sense 
of  freedom  from  effort,  we  do  not  desire.  No: 
''  Give  me  a  world  where  there  is  something  to 
do,"  demands  the  believer  who  understands  the 
nature  and  necessities  of  his  soul.  An  abode  of 
simple  quietude  and  dreams  's  no  Paradise  to  him. 

The  Scripture  use  of  the  word  rest,  to  denote 
future  blessedness,  is  somewhat  comprehensive  and 
figurative.    No  doubt  it  denotes  freedom  from  temp- 


ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN.  203 

tation,  —  perfect  exemption  from  fatiguing  efforts, 
from  all  disturbance  from  without,  and  all  disquiet 
from  within  ;  but  it  is  nowhere  used  to  limit  heav- 
only  bliss  to  such  a  blank  negation.  True,  it  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  or  what  we  shall 
do ;  but  free  agency  will  be  unimpaired  ;  the  resur- 
rection-body will  admit  of  strenuous  activity,  un- 
attended with  weariness ;  and  the  conditions  of  the 
heavenly  state  are  such  as  demand  positive  and  un- 
interrupted service  of  God. 

We  are  made  for  activity.  Holy  effort  is  the 
normal  state  of  our  being,  while  to  be  idle  and  inert 
is  to  be  apostate.  Before  he  fell,  man  was  placed 
in  the  garden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it ;  and  the 
curse  resting  upon  him  since  the  fall  does  not  con- 
sist in  the  work  required,  but  in  the  weariness  and 
discomfort  which  attend  exertion.  These,  mingled 
with  our  required  efforts,  convert  them  into  penal 
toil  and  drudgery.  But  the  more  noble  and  aspir- 
ing a  mind  is,  the  more  joyfully  and  vigorously  does 
it  exert  itself,  and  the  more  of  luxury  does  it  ex- 
tract from  effort.  All  great  men,  all  useful  men, 
—  those,  too, -who  have  accomplished  great  things 
for  evil, — have  been  laborious  men.  Demosthenes, 
Caesar,  Newton,  Franklin,  Howard,  Napoleon,  worked 
hard.     The  Romans,  in  describing  an  extraordinary 


204  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

man,  were  always  careful  to  mention  that  he  was 
incredihili  industria,  diligentia  singulari.  And,  as 
long  as  Rome  prospered,  Stimula,  who  incited  to 
diligence,  and  Strenua,  who  gave  constancy  and 
firmness,  were  among  the  received  deities  ;  but 
Quies,  Goddess  of  Rest,  they  would  not  admit 
within  the  city  ;  her  temple  was  without  the  Col- 
line  gate. 

On  the  other  hand,  remission  of  effort  brings  on 
languor,  and  health  and  energy  go  to  decay.  When 
the  enterprise  of  the  Assyrian  empire  ceased,  ef- 
feminacy began,  and  subjugation  to  Media  and 
Babylon  was  the  result.  For  the  same  reason, 
those  powers  yielded  to  Cyrus;  and  then  Persia, 
in  turn,  to  Macedon.  Look  at  India,  now  ;  look 
at  China  ;  what  they  are,  or  till  within  a  limited 
time  have  become,  such  they  have  been  for  centu- 
ries. They  have  produced  nothing  great  or  noble. 
The  hosts  that  swarm  there  may  exhibit  a  frivolous 
activity,  but  society  is  torpid.  Intellect  has  been 
benumbed  for  ages.  The  human  race,  as  a  whole, 
would  have  suffered  little  loss  had  all  those  millions 
for  generations  been  teeming  on  some  other  planet 
Leaving  religion  out  of  the  account,  we  cannot 
picture  to  ourselves  a  high  state  of  human  society 
on  earth,  which  shall  at  all  approximate  to  perfeors 


ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN.  205 

tion,  in  which  there  is  not  intense  activity.  Such 
a  city  as  Augustus  Caesar  would  found,  and  call 
Apragapolis,  in  which  no  business  was  to  be  trans- 
acted, would  be  fit  only  for  mutes  and  idiots. 

"  The  keenest  pangs  the  wretched  find 
Are  rapture  to  the  dreary  void,  — 
The  leafless  desert  of  the  mind, 
The  waste  of  feelings  unemployed." 

Does  not  analogy  teach  that  man,  being  prosper- 
ous and  happy  here,  whenever  active  in  doing  right, 
must  be  proportionately  so  hereafter,  when  all  im- 
pediments to  exertion  are  withdrawn  ?  Who  that 
reflects  upon  the  active  powers  of  the  soul,  and 
their  evident  design,  can  believe  that  in  heaven 
there  will  be  any  indolence  —  that  any  drones  can 
find  admittance  there  ?  The  argument  is  still 
stronger  when  we  view  the  regenerated  soul.  The 
whole  tendency  of  grace  is  to  incite  the  mind  to 
high  and  holy  effort.  Not  the  first  inquiry  alone, 
but  the  motto,  is,  ''Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me 
to  do  ?  *'  No  sooner  had  the  woman  of  Samaria 
found  the  Messiah  than  she  called  the  whole  city  to 
come  and  behold  him.  The  motive  power  of  Chiris- 
tianity  is  that  of  a  spring,  pressing  outwardly  and 
constantly.  Piety  is  benevolence,  and,  by  its  own 
18 


206  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

nature,  communicative  and  active.  Who  that  has 
partaken  of  the  gracious  amplitude  of  divine  ben- 
efits can  refrain  from  inviting  all  to  share  ?  or  from 
gratefully  exerting  himself,  in  every  appropriate 
way,  in  the  service  of  his  Kedeemer  ?  To  be  idle 
is  repugnant  to  all  the  laws  of  the  hidden  life. 
Goodness  finds  its  emblem,  not  in  the  pool,  but  in 
the  stream.  Kun  it  must,  or  it  cannot  live.  In 
proportion  as  the  vital  principle  takes  possession  of 
a  believer's  heart,  it  impels  him  right  onward  in 
doing  God  service. 

Now,  when  delivered  from  this  body  of  death, 
from  the  hinderances  of  this  world,  from  the  en- 
feebling effects  of  sin,  does  not  the  believer  enter 
upon  a  field  of  intense  activity,  such  as  he  never 
knew  before  ?  Will  his  ardor  be  cooled  by  contact 
with  seraphim,  and  by  participation  in  the  ani- 
mating scenes  of  the  world  of  glory  ?  "  Therefore 
are  they  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him 
day  and  night.''  They  serve  him  vigorously.  What 
they  do  is  done  with  a  will.  Eelaxation  is  neither 
needed  nor  desired.  Objects  to  be  sought  must 
present  themselves  so  momentous  as  to  call  forth 
every  energy.  These  glorious  ends  cannot  fail  to 
awaken  such  a  flame  of  holy  enterprise  as  their 
hearts  never  knew  on  earth.     All  this,  too,  will  be 


ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN.  207 

without  fatigue.  Efficiently  as  they  serve  God,  it 
is  not  laboriously,  so  that  in  strenuous  exertion  there 
is  rest,  while  mere  repose  would  be  misery.  And 
it  is  a  delightful  consideration  that  none  of  that 
activity  is  misdirected.  "While,  as  is  probable, 
vast  enterprises  will  be  undertaken,  in  the  world  to 
come,  for  the  furtherance  of  truth  and  holiness,  no 
wasteful  expenditure  of  energy  will  be  witnessed 
in  carrying  them  out.  How  should  this  reconcile 
us  to  deaths  of  those  who  are  eminently  useful,  and 
are  in  the  midst  of  their  days  !  We  are  to  remem- 
ber that  earth  and  heaven  are  equally  a  part  of  the 
domain  of  Jehovah,  and  that  it  is  his  right  to  trans- 
fer from  the  one  to  the  other,  according  as  he 
pleases.  Shall  we,  then,  object  if  he  choose  to 
have  any  one,  at  any  particular  time,  serve  him  in 
heaven  rather  than  on  earth  ?  Do  you  think  it 
strange  in  the  husbandman  that  he  should  call  a 
hired  servant,  as  his  wisdom  may  dictate,  from  one 
field  to  another,  where  his  comfort  shall  be  greater, 
his  efforts  be  more  congenial,  more  productive,  and 
more  acceptable  to  his  lord  ?  Then  will  we  not 
complain  at  any  of  the  divine  proceedings  in  this 
matter,  which  at  first  seem  unaccountable,  and 
which  to  survivors  are  indeed  most  painful. 

Do  you  point,  for  instance,  to  a  mother,  in  the 


208  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

midst  of  highest  usefulness,  her  presence  peculiarly 
indispensable  to  a  numerous  group,  for  whom  her 
efforts  and  prayers  are  unceasing  ?  I  point  you  to 
the  same  mother,  in  a  sphere  immeasurably  larger, 
putting  forth  efforts  far  greater,  with  unspeakably 
more  of  satisfaction  to  herself  and  approval  to  the 
Lord.  Has  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God,  embracing 
its  two  provinces  of  earth  and  heaven,  suffered  loss  ? 
Is  the  aggregate  of  human  usefulness  diminished  ? 
"What  is  it  to  be  useful,  but  to  be  where  God  would 
have  us,  and  doing  what  he  requires  ? 

A  youthful  preacher,  as  M'Cheyn,  engages  the 
hearts  of  a  church  and  congregation.  At  their 
invitation  he  is  duly  constituted  pastor  of  the  flock. 
Their  affections  flow  out  to  him  without  stint  or 
interruption.  God  owns  his  labors  for  the  spiritual 
good  of  a  whole  community ;  but,  in  the  midst  of 
the  first  fruits  of  what  promises  to  be  an  abundant 
harvest,  the  ardent  reaper  is  himself  cut  down,  or 
rather  caught  up  to  the  Paradise  of  God.  Is  he 
lost  ?  Is  his  whole  work  done  ?  Will  he  speak  of 
Christ  crucified  to  smaller  numbers,  or  with  a  heart 
less  warm  in  his  glorious  theme  ?  Will  it  be  with 
a  coal  from  a  less  glowing  altar  that  the  seraphim 
shall  there  touch  his  lips  ? 

Sd,  too,  in  the  case  of  the  young  missionary. 


ACTIVITY    IN    HEAVEN.  209 

—  Brainard  at  thirty,  Mills  at  thirty-one,  Martyn  at 
thirty-two,  —  or  others,  who,  in  the  dew  of  their 
youth,  have  suddenly  been  called  away.  Is  it  with- 
out foresight  on  the  part  of  God  ?  Is  it  from  a  want 
of  economy  that  he  withdraws  laborers  just  as  they 
step  into  the  whitened  field  ?  Aside  from  the  sanc- 
tified influence  of  their  deaths  upon  survivors  here, 
are  they  not  serving  God  far  more  efiiciently  in  his 
temple  above  ?  Have  they  not  been  transferred  to 
just  that  station  of  heavenly  activity  for  which  they 
were  prepared  ?  Is  any  of  the  knowledge,  or  en- 
terprise, or  sagacity,  acquired  here,  of  no  avail 
there,  where  all  energies  are  tasked  to  the  utmost  ? 
Who  knows  best  where  the  servants  of  God  can  do 
most  for  him  and  his  church  ? 
18*    . 


CHAPTER    XV. 

RESURRECTION     BODY. 

Shall  I  be  left  abandoned  in  the  dust, 
When  fate,  relenting,  lets  the  flower  revive? 
Shall  Nature's  voice,  to  man  alone  unjust, 
Deny  him,  doomed  to  perish,  hope  to  live? 
Is  it  for  this  fair  virtue  oft  must  strive 
With  disappointment,  penury  and  pain  1 
No  ;  heaven's  immortal  spring  shall  yet  arrive, 
And  man's  majestic  beauty  bloom  again, 
Bright  through  the  eternal  year  of  love's  triumphant  reign. 

Beattie. 

T^.  'RE  are  four  grand  epochs  in  the  history  of 
every  sinner  saved  by  Christ.  The  first  is  that  of 
natural  birth,  by  which  event  another  being,  fear- 
fully and  wonderfully  made,  commences  an  exist- 
ence that  shall  never  end,  yet  under  auspices  dark 
and  fearful,  inheriting  disease  within,  discomforts 
without,  and  displeasure  from  above. 

The  second  epoch  is  that  of  the  new  birth,  when 
this  heir  of  sin  and  wrath  becomes  an  heir  of  God  ; 
when  the  disordered  soul,  oppressed  by  the  bonds 
of  sin,  is  renewed  and  disenthralled,  translated 
from   the  domain  of  Satan,  naturalized  in  a  new 


RESURRECTION    BODY.  211 

kingdom,  i.nited  intimately  and  indissolubly  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  third  epoch  is  that  of  natural  death ;  the 
termination  of  this  probationary  period,  the  separa- 
tion of  body  and  soul  for  a  season,  — the  one  return- 
ing to  earth  as  it  was,  the  other  to  God,  free  from 
sin,  and  sharing  in  all  the  blessedness  possible  till 
the  last  epoch,  that  of  resurrection,  which  consum- 
mates the  whole. 

By  that  event  we  understand  the  reproduction, 
at  the  last  day,  of  the  same  bodies  formerly  occu- 
pied, and  the  reunion  of  the  soul  of  each  saint 
with  his  own  body,  thus  raised  and  glorified.  We 
understand  not  a  new  creation,  not  the  caUing  into 
existence  of  a  body  formed  from  substances  which 
did  not  enter  into  the  old ;  we  understand  not  an 
indiscriminate  occupation  of  tenements  supplied  at 
Christ's  summons,  but  the  refitting  of  the  taber- 
nacle of  each  believer  for  the  everlasting  inhabita- 
tion of  his  own  spirit ;  neither  of  them,  nor  the 
united  whole,  having  lost  its  identity. 

This  doctrine  appears  to  have  passed,  insensibly 
and  extensively,  from  the  thoughts  and  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Christian  public ;  yet  it  is  a  funda- 
mental article  in  our  faith.  To  strike  it  out  is  to 
remove   the   corner-stone  from  the  Gospel  fabric. 


212  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

"Because  we  have  testified  of  God  that  he  raised 
up  Christ,  whom  he  raised  not  up,  if  so  be  that  the 
dead  rise  not,  for  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  is  not 
Christ  raised;  and  if  Christ  be  not  raised,  your 
faith  is  vain,  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins/' 

It  is  the  spirit  of  infidelity,  alone,  which  can  set 
asiile  the  doctrine  of  a  future  resurrection,  and 
which,  carried  out  consistently,  would  overthrow 
the  whole  Gospel  system.  There  is  no  gainsaying 
the  apostle's  summary  logic  :  if  Christians  rise  not, 
Christ  rose  not ;  if  Christ  rose  not,  he  and  his 
apostles  are  false  witnesses ;  we  are  out  upon  the 
gloomy,  trackless  sea  of  scepticism. 

This  is  one  of  the  test  truths  of  our  religion, 
because  it  is  purely  a  doctrine  of  revelation.  The 
human  mind,  left  to  itself,  would,  probably,  never 
have  conjectured  such  a  thing.  Nature,  unaided, 
is  not  only  dim,  but  wholly  dark  upon  this  point ; 
and  when  its  possibility  is  suggested,  speculation  is 
far  more  likely  to  reject  this  than  the  doctrine  of 
the  soul's  immortality. 

As,  then,  this  article  of  our  belief  is  exclusively 
one  of  revelation,  we  are  to  go  at  once,  and  with 
unhesitating  confidence,  to  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
''  Marvel  not  at  this,  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the 
which  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the  voice 


RESURRECTION    BODY.  213 

of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  shall  come  forth,  they  that 
have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life/'  (John 
6  40.)  ''  And  this  is  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me, 
that  every  one  which  seeth  the  Son  and  believeth 
on  him,  may  have  everlasting  life  ;  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  at  the  last  day."  The  clause,  "  and  I  will 
raise  him  up  at  the  last  day,"  is  repeated  in  the 
44th  and  54th  verses,  and  one  similar  in  the  39th. 
"And  have  hope  toward  God,  which  they  them- 
selves also  allow,  that  there  shall  be  a  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  both  of  the  just  and  of  the  unjust." 
"  Now  if  Christ  be  preached,  that  he  rose  from 
the  dead,  how  say  some  among  you  that  there  is  no 
resurrection  of  the  dead  ?  But  if  there  be  no  res- 
urrection of  the  dead,  then  is  Christ  not  risen ;  and 
if  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  is  our  preaching  vain, 
and  your  faith  is  also  vain." 

These  passages  establish  the  fact  that  at  the  close 
of  this  dispensation  there  will  be  a  resurrection  of 
all  the  righteous  dead,  who  shall  come  forth  from 
their  graves  as  certainly  as  Christ  did  from  his. 
Special  stress  is  laid  upon  the  event  of  Christ's  res- 
urrection, in  proof  of  the  resurrection  of  believers 
''  But  now  is  Christ,  raised  from  the  dead,  and 
become  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept."  Before 
him  no  one  had  come  from  the  grave  without  being 


214  THE    BETTER    :iAND. 

again  subject  to  death ;  and,  as  the  first  fruits  are 
a  sample  and  pledge  of  the  approaching  harvest,  so 
our  Lord's  coming  from  the  grave  is  the  earnest  of 
a  like  ingathering  of  his  people.  His  was  both 
type  and  guaranty  of  what  shall  be  on  the  broad 
scale  at  their  resurrection.  His  own  reappearance 
from  the  tomb  was  the  crowning  evidence  that  he 
is  the  faithful  and  true  witness,  and  that  each  of  his 
promises  for  the  future  is  as  sure  of  accomplishment 
as  those  already  fulfilled. 

But,  beyond  this,  there  is  a  security  for  the 
saints'  resurrection  in  their  union  to  Christ.  "Now 
ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particu- 
lar.'' ''  Then  they  also  that  are  fallen  asleep  in 
Christ  are  perished."  ''  But  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive,  yet  every  man  in  his  own  order  ;  Christ 
the  first  fruits,  afterwards  they  that  are  Christ's  at 
his  coming."  "  For,  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died 
and  rose  again,  even  them  also  that  sleep  in  Jesus 
will  God  bring  with  him."  The  peculiar,  vital 
union,  subsisting  between  believers  and  their  risen 
Lord,  warrants  the  assurance  of  their  own  triumph- 
ant awaking  from  the  dust. 

Such  are  some  of  the  more  important  declarations 
of  the  New  Testament  which  demonstrate  the  future 
resurrection  cf  the  bodies  of  believers.     The  Scrip- 


RESURRECTION    B  >DY.  215 

hires,  moreover,  furnish  examples  illustrati\^e  of  that 
event.  Thus,  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Sarepta, 
soon  after  death  was  again  restored  to  life  ;  the  son 
of  the  Shunamite,  after  the  arrival  of  the  prophet 
from  Mount  Carmel ;  and  another  while  they  were 
burying  him  in  the  sepulchre  of  Elisha.  So,  too, 
Jairus'  daughter,  and  Dorcas,  were  restored  to  life 
soon  after  decease  ;  the  widow's  son  at  Nain,  while 
the  remains  were  on  their  way  to  the  sepulchre, 
and  Lazarus,  after  four  days*  corruption  in  the 
tomb. 

In  these  instances,  the  bodies  raised,  so  far  as 
appears,  were,  in  all  respects,  the  same  as  before  ; 
and  no  less  subject  to  dissolution.  Hence  they 
were  quite  unlike  those  which  will  be  reproduced 
at  the  general  resurrection  ;  yet  the  main  fact  in 
tho  two  cases  is  the  same  —  a  miraculous  reunion 
of  the  soul  with  the  same  body,  re-constituting  the 
same  person  as  before. 

And  a  most  august  occasion  will  that  be.  ''  For 
the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven,  with  a 
shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  the 
trump  of  God."  "  In  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump  ;  for  the  trumpet  shall 
sound."  Without  insisting  on  the  literal  exactness 
of  this  description,  we  cannot  understand  less  than 


216  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

that  the  occasion  will  be  one  of  surpassing  gran 
deur ;  that  our  Lord  will  come,  not  only  in  his  own 
divine   glory,  but  with   the   glory  of  his  Father, 
attended  by  the  holy  angels,   with  inconceivable 
splendor,  majesty  and  power. 

Yet,  though  the  resurrection  shall  be  general,  it 
will  also  be  successive,  believers  enjoying  fitting 
priority,  as  it  is  written  :  "  But  every  man  in  his 
own  order  ;  Christ  the  first  fruits  ;  afterward  they 
that  are  Christ's  at  his  coming.''  ''The  dead  in 
Christ  shall  rise  first." 

''  But  some  man  will  say.  How  are  the  dead  raised 
up;  and  with  what  body  do  they  come?"  The 
question  is  natural,  and,  keeping  within  the  limits 
of  revelation  and  sober  judgment,  a  reply  is  due 
to  the  inquiry. 

The  same  body  will  be  raised.  Without  wasting 
time  in  disquisition  upon  what  constitutes  identity, 
or  upon  the  changes  which  every  living  creature 
constantly  undergoes,  suffice  it  to  say,  that,  notwith- 
standing all  its  mutations,  the  same  body  which  is 
born  is  the  one  which  dies,  and  the  one  which  dies 
is  that  Avhich  will  be  raised  again.  It  would  be 
deemed  irrelevant,  in  this  connection,  to  discuss 
abstruse  questions  relating  to  substances,  atoms,  and 
the  like  ;  all  that  is  important,  or  possible  to  know 


RESURRECTION     BODY.  217 

on  the  subject  at  present,  is,  that  -whatever  oay  be 
essential  to  identity  will  be  preserved  ;  so  that  it  is 
proper  to  affirm  now,  and  will  then  be  evidently 
true,  that  the  body  which  died  is  the  one  that  is 
raised.  The  translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah,  the 
resurrection  and  ascension  of  our  Lord,  the  testi- 
mony that  they  which  sleep  in  their  graves  shall 
come,  forth, —  indeed,  all  testimony  of  holy  writ  upon 
this  point,  establishes  the  truth  that  the  body  raised 
is  identical  with  that  from  which  separation  took 
place.  The  changes  that  occur  at  regeneration, 
departure  from  the  body,  and  reunion  to  the  same 
after  having  been  in  Paradise,  do  not  affect  the 
identity  of  the  soul ;  nor  do  the  revolutions  effected 
by  growth,  dissolution  and  resurrection,  destroy  the 
identity  of  the  body ;  nor  do  all  these  combined 
impair  the  identity  of  the  person,  when  these  two 
elements  of  his  constitution  shall  have  been  reunited. 
Abraham  will  be  forever  conscious  to  himself,  and 
known  to  his  family  as  the  same  Abraham  who 
bought  the  field  of  Ephron,  and  the  cave  which 
was  therein ;  and  the  precious  dust  first  deposited 
there  shall  come  forth,  his  own  beloved  Sarah. 
Samuel  J.  Mills  was  not  buried  irrecorerably,  nor  has 
any  believer  been  lost  in  the  ocean.  The  sea  shall 
19 


218  THE    BETTEB    LAND 

ere  long,  give  up  its  deac  unharmed      Each  saint 
in  Christ  Jesus  may  say, 

"  In  ocean  cave  still  safe  with  thee 
The  germ  of  immortality ; 
And  calm  and  peaceful  is  my  sleep, 
Eocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep." 

It  will  be  a  spiritual  body.  "And  that  which 
thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall 
be,  but  bare  grain ;  it  may  chance  of  wheat  or 
some  other  grain.  But  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it 
hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every  seed  his  own  body. 
All  flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh  ;  but  there  is  one 
kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts, 
another  of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds.  There  are 
also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but  the 
glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the 
terrestrial  is  another.  There  is  one  glory  of  the 
sun  and  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another 
glory  of  the  stars ;  for  one  star  difFereth  from 
another  star  in  glory.  So,  also,  is  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised 
in  incorruption.  It  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is 
raised  a  spiritual  body.  There  is  a  natural  body, 
and  there  is  a  spiritual  body.'' 

By  this  we  do  not  understand  thst  the  resurrec- 


RESURRECTION     BODY.  219 

tion  body  will  be  a  pure  spirit, — which  is  a  contra- 
diction in  terms, — but  spirit-like  compared  with  the 
present.  (1  Cor.  15  :  50.)  Thero  will  be  a  body  still, 
as  truly  as  there  now  is ;  and  without  trenching 
upon  its  identity,  Christ  will  mould  it  into  a  per- 
fect adaptation  to  the  heavenly  world.  What  the 
precise  character  of  its  constitution,  what  its  spe- 
cific properties  and  endowments  may  be,  we  know 
not ;  for  the  future  state  is  so  necessarily  unlike  to 
the  present,  and  such  is  the  divine  silence  of  the 
Scriptures  in  regard  to  these  details,  that  we  shrink 
from  all  attempts  to  anticipate  the  knowledge  of 
that  day.  Idle  curiosity  may  propound  questions 
without  number  ;  adventurous  speculation  may  at- 
tempt to  solve  them ;  but  it  is  generally  useless, 
and  may  be  mischievous.  One  hour  after  the  arch- 
angeFs  trump  has  sounded,  believers  will  know 
more  on  this  subject  than  all  which  they  could  have 
learned  previously,  by  the  most  earnest,  life-long 
study. 

The  resurrection  body  will  be  incorruptible  and 
immortal.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in 
inoorruption.  "  For  this  corruption  must  put  on 
incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immor- 
tality." 

It  will  be  inherently  exempt  from  oeoay,  ancl 


220  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

removed  from  all  outward  influences  which  might 
weaken  or  disorder  it. 

It  is  a  common  and  not  improbable  idea  that  all 
the  redeemed  will  forever  exult  in  undecaying 
youth.  The  school-men  were  accustomed  to  say 
that  all  will  rise  of  the  same  age.  However  that 
HI  ay  be,  we  are  certain  that  the  resurrection  body 
will  be  healthful  and  vigorous.  "  It  is  sown  in  weak- 
ness ;  it  is  raised  in  power."  It  will  be  perfectly 
and  forever  free  from  languor,  weariness,  and  dis- 
ease. ''  The  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick." 
The  eye  of  the  patriarch  shall  never  grow  dim 
again  ;  Jacob  shall  no  longer  halt,  and  Lazarus 
retain  no  trace  of  his  malady  ;  for  then  ''  the  eyes 
of  the  blind  shall  be  opened,  and  the  ears  of  the 
deaf  shall  be  unstopped.  Then  shall  the  lame  man 
'cap  as  a  hart;  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall 
sing."  They  shall  all  be  girded  with  strength, — 
with  immortal  vigor  to  serve  God,  day  and  night, 
in  his  temple. 

The  resurrection  bodies  of  saints  will  be  most 
beautiful  and  glorious.  ''It  is  sown  in  dishonor; 
it  is  raised  in  glory."  No  one  of  our  race  since  the 
fall  has  had  a  body  in  all  respects  faultless.  Every 
child  of  God  shall  hereafter  possess  one  absolutely 
perfect.     Yes;  these  vile  bodies,  subject  to  disease, 


RESUERECTION    BODY.  221 

distortion,  decay,  the  instruments  of  sin,  shall  have 
an  exquisite  symmetry  of  features  and  proportion. 

No  Grecian  artist,  however  faultless  his  eye,  and 
fervid  his  imagination,  ever  conceived  of  a  form  so 
ethereal,  so  stately,  so  enchantingly  graceful,  as 
shall  then  belong  to  the  saint  whose  body  was  the 
most  unlovely  and  misshapen  here.  The  resurrec- 
tion body  will  be  perfectly  suited  to  the  occupancy 
of  a  perfect  soul,  in  the  temple  and  immediate 
presence  of  the  King  of  kings.  Christ  also  loved 
the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it,  that  he  might 
sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of  water 
by  the  word  ;  that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a 
glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any 
such  thing,  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish.  Yes ;  h  e  ' '  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that 
it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body.'' 

And  would  we  know  what  Christ's  glorious  body 
is  ?  Then  must  we  see  him  on  the  mount  of  trans- 
figuration, when  "His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun, 
and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light."  We  must 
behold  him  in  apocalyptic  effulgence  :  "His  coun- 
tenance as  the  sun  shine th  in  his  strength."  Such 
is  the  archetype  of  the  believer's  resurrection  body. 
The  masterpiece  of  supreme  power  and  wisdom  will 
be  those  future  bodies  of  the  saints,  and  the  re- 
19* 


222  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

union  with  them  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  epitaphs  should  now  so 
seldom  recognize  this  glorious  truth  ?  A  false,  un- 
christian taste  on  this  point  appears  to  have  spread 
widely  in  our  own  land,  and  some  other  parts  of 
Christendom.  It  is  painful  to  observe  to  what 
extent  recent  cemeteries  are  devoid  of  all  scriptural 
sentiment  in  their  monumental  records.  Formerly 
it  was  not  so.  In  the  Catacombs  of  Rome,  where 
the  primitive  Christians  were  interred,  is  many  a 
testimony  like  this  :  —  "In  Christ :  Alexander  is 
not  dead,  but  lives  beyond  the  stars,  and  his  body 
rests  in  this  tomb."  Go  to  the  burial-places  of  our 
godly  fathers,  and  you  read  :  —  ''In  sure  and  cer- 
tain hope  of  the  resurrection  to  eternal  life.''  But 
our  modern  style  is  coming  fast  into  conformity  to 
what  is  called  the  severely  chaste  and  attic,  but 
really  atheistic  usage  of  pagan  Greece. 

We  honor  and  commend  for  imitation  the  pious 
forethought  of  that  excellent  bishop  of  London,  who 
provided  by  his  will  that  Resurgam,  ''  I  shall  rise 
again,''  should  be  inscribed  on  his  grave-stone. 

The  subject  of  recognizing  departed  Christian 
friends  comes  up  once  more.  We  have  as  yet 
known  those  friends  only  in  the  body.     It  is  im- 


RESURRECTION    BODY.  223 

possible  foi  us,  if  we  would,  to  dissociate  our  afFec- 
tion'j  and  our  recollections  of  them  from  those  forms 
so  endeared  to  us.  That  disruption  of  soul  and 
body  which  we  witnessed  at  their  death  was  to  us 
painful,  perhaps  overwhelming.  We  long  to  see 
them  once  more  in  their  house  which  is  from  heaven. 
And  therein  we  shall  be  gratified.  Nor  are  the 
yeanlings  of  the  natural  heart  unauthorized. 

*  0,  when  a  mother  meets  on  high 
The  child  she  lost  in  infancy, 

Has  she  not  then,  for  pains  and  fears, 
The  day  of  woe,  the  watchful  night. 

For  all  her  sorrows  and  her  tears, 
An  over-payment  of  delight  ?  " 

"  Not  as  a  child  shall  we  again  behold  her. 

For  when,  with  rapture  wild, 
In  our  embraces  we  again  enfold  her, 

She  will  not  be  a  child. 
But  a  fair  maiden  in  her  Father's  mansion. 

Clothed  with  celestial  grace ; 
And  beautiful,  with  all  the  soul's  expression, 

Shall  we  bahold  her  face.'* 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

PERPETUITY     OF     BLISS     IN     HEAVEN 

"  Soon,  and  forever  !  " 

Such  promise  our  trust, 
Though  ashes  to  ashes, 

And  dust  unto  dust : 
Soon,  and  forever. 

Our  union  shall  be 
Made  perfect,  our  glorious 

Redeemer,  in  thee. 
When  the  sins  and  the  sorrows 

Of  time  shall  be  o'er, 
Its  pangs  and  its  partings 

Remembered  no  more ; 
When  life  cannot  fail. 

And  when  death  cannot  sever, 
Christians  with  Christ  shall  be 

Soon,  and  forever. 

MONSEL. 

There  are  few  themes  which  cloy  sooner,  or  have 
been  more  thoroughly  exhausted,  than  the  shortness 
of  terrestrial  life,  and  the  universality  of  death.  For 
centuries  men  have  talked,  and  sung,  and  sighed 
about  it.  From  immemorial  ages  a  sad,  yet  un- 
tiring eye  has  been  upon  the  look-out  for  every- 


PERPETUnr    OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.     225 

thing  frail  and  transient,  from  which  to  borrow  an 
additional  illustration.  But  in  the  fields  of  meta- 
phor there  are  no  more  gleanings.  Even  poetry 
dies  for  lack  of  aliment.  The  earth  has  come  to 
be  one  great  mausoleum  ;  and  every  hillock,  every 
dale  we  meet  with,  has  its  memento  mori.  We  can- 
not, then,  forget  the  subject.  Each  setting  sun, 
each  expiring  year,  forces  it  upon  our  notice.  And 
thus  will  it  ever  be.  So  long  as  the  moon  sails 
through  the  heavens,  so  long  as  a  dial  marks  the 
rapid  shadow,  or  an  arrow  remains  in  death's  quiver, 
so  long  will  the  mind  be  impressed  by  these  consid- 
erations. That  element  of  our  natures,  which  ren- 
ders us  susceptible  to  such  impressions  from  the 
fleeting  uncertainties  of  present  existence,  is  the 
same  which  connects  us  with  the  future,  and  sends 
our  thoughts  onward  unto  eternity. 

There  is  an  oracle  in  man  which  has  spoken  of 
fortunate  islands,  with  their  perpetual  spring ;  which 
has  told  the  wild  Indian,  too,  that  he  shall  renew 
the  chase  in  a  better  land,  far  to  the  west.  But 
dreams  and  traditions  do  not  satisfy  us.  We  need, 
and  we  have,  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy.  Is, 
then,  the  happiness  of  heaven  without  end  ?  May 
the  people  of  God  cherish  this  anticipation  with  firm 
assurance  ? 


2i6  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

Goi,  in  his  word,  has  set  forth  this  truth  under 
various  expressions.  One  is  that  of  an  endless  life 
"  Of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  some 
shall  awake  to  everlasting  life.'*  '' The  righteous 
shall  go  into  life  eternal,"  —  ''shall  never  see 
death.*'  Not  without  reason  is  death  used  to  rep- 
resent the  sum  of  penal  evils,  and  life  made  the 
symbol  of  all  things  desirable.  Men  struggle  for 
life  as  for  nothing  else  ;  and  in  this  strong  love  of 
life  is  an  earnest  of  immortality,  —  an  intimation 
that  the  soul  was  not  made  for  less  than  unending 
consciousness,  a  sleepless  activity  of  mind  and 
heart.  We  feel,  too,  that,  in  order  to  complete 
happiness,  all  this  must  be  under  the  control  of 
perfect  love.  This  alone  can  realize  the  highest 
idea  of  life.  Such  an  image,  thus  meeting  the 
deep  demands  of  our  nature,  inspiration  presents. 
"  He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the 
second  death;''  for  ''this  is  the  promise  that  he 
hath  promised  us,  even  eternal  'life  ;" — all  which 
comes  through  un'on  by  faith  to  him  who  is  the 
author  and  giver  of  life.  "  This  is  the  will  of  him 
that  sent  me,  that  every  one  that  seeth  the  Son, 
and  believeth  on  him,  may  have  everlasting  life  ; 
and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day."  Hence, 
when  9  believer  reaches  the  close  of  his  present 


PERPETUITY    OP    BLISS     IN    HEAVEN.     227 

journey,  he  does  not  leave  the  land  of  the  living ; 
he  goes  to  it.  In  his  exchange  of  worlds,  it  is 
death  that  dies.  That  day  is  to  him  the  birthday  of 
eternity.  Then  only  does  he  truly  begin  to  live  ; 
for  he  lives  in  union  with  Him  who  is  the  everlast- 
ing source  of  life. 

Well  did  the  great  Apostle  comfort  himself  and 
others  with  these  words :  —  "  Paul,  a  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  faith  of  God's  elect, 
and  the  acknowledging  of  the  truth  which  is  after 
godliness,  in  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God,  that 
cannot  lie,  promised  before  the  world  began."  Nor 
was  he  deceived  —  he  is  still  alive;  so  is  Isaiah;  so 
are  Abraham  and  Enoch.  Yes  ;  and  though  thou- 
sands of  years  have  rolled  over  them,  they  are  still 
in  the  morning  of  eternity.  This  sun,  these  stars, 
are  aU  vanishing  sparks.  Orion,  and  Arc  turns  with 
his  sons,  will  grow  pale  under  the  believer's  eye. 
There  will  be  no  new  dispensation  in  heaven ;  there 
is  no  cave  of  Machpelah,  no  tomb-stones,  there. 
The  trees  there  are  not  Cypress,  but  the  Tree  of 
Life,  and  the  river  is  the  River  of  Life,  that  flows 
from  the  throne  of  God. 

The  perpetuity  of  future  bliss  is  presented  to  us 

under  the  figure  of  an  imperishable  possession,  — 

• "  an  inheritance,  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and 


228  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven."  To  be 
rich  is  what  most  men  intensely  desire.  Most  vig- 
orously do  they  prosecute  their  labors  for  that  end  ; 
and,  in  the  midst  of  perils,  they  go  down  to  the  sea 
in  ships,  penetrating  the  most  pestilential  regions, 
for  the  same  object.  Towards  some.  Plenty  turns 
her  horn.  Yet  the  insecurity  of  wealth  is  proverb- 
ial. Who  knows  how  long  his  property  will  be  his 
own  ?  Fire,  flood,  drought,  the  bankrupt,  the 
burglar,  are  busy.  And,  if  men  escape  these,  for 
how  long  is  the  escape  ?  We  brought  nothing  into 
the  world,  and  we  can  carry  nothing  out.  It  is  a 
lease  only  that  we  hold,  and  that  for  no  fixed  period ; 
the  longest  is  but  short;  this  day  may  end  it.  One 
possession  alone  is  permanent.  It  lies  where  no 
thief  approacheth,  or  moth  corrupteth,  and  where 
is  no  more  sea.  It  is  not  the  gold  of  Ophir.  Our 
onyx  or  sapphire  is  not  found  there.  That  in- 
heritance is  undefiled  by  fraud,  cruelty,  or  ava- 
rice ;  it  was  purchased  by  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without 
spot. 

The-  same  truth  is  conveyed,  also,  by  the  figure 
of  a  permanent  registration.  Amongst  us,  it  is  no 
unusual  thing  for  names  to  be  wanting  in  lists  of 
passengers   and   voters.      Excommunication  takes 


PERPETUITY    OP  'BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      229 

place  from  the  church,  expulsion  from  school  and 
college,  and  exclusion  from  other  organizations. 
It  is  a  custom  in  Sweden,  when  the  male  line  of  a 
family  becomes  extinct,  publicly  to  break  their 
escutcheon.  It  is  not  long  since  the  Baron  Peter 
de  Walencrona  died^  at  the  age  of  ninety-five,  and 
in  him  expired  a  title  of  nobility  conferred  by 
Charles  the  Twelfth.  A  herald  therefore  proceed- 
ed to  the  Church  of  the  Nobles  in  Stockholm,  and 
there  publicly  broke  the  armorial  shield  of  the 
Baron,  whose  family  name  is  no  longer  found  on 
the  list  of  Swedish  nobility. 

But  when  the  Great  Captain  of  our  salvation 
grants  a  patent  of  nobility  among  his  people,  all  of 
whom  are  made  kings  and  priests  unto  God,  he 
never  withdraws  it.  ''I  will  not  blot  out  his  name 
out  of  the  book  of  life,  but  I  will  confess  his  name 
before  my  Father,  and  before  his  angels.'*  Christ 
will  forever  delight  in  his  society,  and  rejoice  to 
honor  him. 

We  meet,  also,  with  the  image  of  a  continuing 
city.  Here  we  have  none,  but  we  seek  one  to 
come.  Abraham  looked,  and  every  believer  looks, 
for  a  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God.  Human  life  is  nomadic.  To-day 
we  pitch  our  tent  here,  to-morrow  elsewhere  The 
20 


230  THE    BETTER    LA1;D. 

miglitiest  Babel  towers  are  only  preludes  of  disper- 
sion. Man's  cities  will  not  stand.  Nimrod  found- 
ed the  first ;  it  stood  for  centuries  ;  but  a  prophet 
cried,  "  Woe  to  the  bloody  city!'' — and  it  tumbled 
into  ruins.  Inquire  for  Babylon,  the  golden  city, 
the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chaldee's 
excellency.  Look  for  her  hanging  gardens,  and 
her  hundred  gates.  The  wild  beasts  of  the  desert 
lie  there  ;  owls  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  dance 
there.  Out  of  her  ruins  many  a  caravansera, 
many  a  village,  ay,  and  distant  city,  have  been 
constructed,  and  in  turn  fallen  to  the  dust.  They 
lacked  continuance.  For  centuries  desert  winds 
have  swept  over  Persepolis.  Of  Solomon's  Tad- 
mor,  a  forest  of  columns  and  a  few  tombs  are  all 
that  remain.  Tyre  is  now  like  the  top  of  a  rock  ; 
and  the  ships  of  Tarshish  have  ceased  to  howl  for 
her.  "  Troy  was."  An  aqueduct  is  all  that  tells 
where  Carthage  stood.  The  Cities  of  Refuge  no 
longer  defend  the  manslayer.  And  those  of  the 
Achaean  league,  —  where  are  they  ?  Egypt  is  one 
vast  burial-place  of  cities.  Near  to  Rome  are 
traces  of  fifty  centres  of  life,  destroyed  more  than 
two  thousand  years  ago.  Rome  herself  hardly  is. 
Nor  is  our  own  continent  devoid  of  eloquent  wit- 
nesses —  as  in  Palenque  and  Uxmal  —  to  the  truth 


PERPETUITY  OF  BLISS  IN  HEAVEN.   231 

that  terrestrial  cities  do  not  continue.  Let  not  the 
proud  capitals  of  our  own  day  mock  at  this  history 
of  the  past.  A  change  in  the  course  of  commerce 
or  conq^uest,  the  action  of  elements  upon  them  or 
of  convulsions  beneath  them,  may  yet  compel  each 
to  put  on  sackcloth.  There  certainly  is  one  con- 
flagration which  none  of  them  will  survive. 

The  Jew  thought  that  his  beloved  metropolis  was 
never  to  be  shaken.  There  was,  apparently,  rea- 
son for  his  partial  judgment.  It  was  God's  chosen 
residence.  And  beautiful,  indeed,  "  for  situation, 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  was  Mount  Zion,  on 
the  sides  of  the  north,  the  city  of  the  Great 
King."  Yet  has  Jerusalem  repeatedly  experi- 
enced a  signal  overthrow.  The  Babylonians  and 
Persians  in  turn  subdued  it.  Eomans,  Saracens 
and  Turks,  laid  it  waste.  From  Sennacherib  to 
the  present  Sultan,  it  has  been  trodden  down  by 
unbelieving  Gentiles.  The  idolater  has  driven  his 
ploughshare  over  the  site  of  the  temple,  and  Mount 
Zion  is  now  crowned  with  a  Mohammedan  mosque. 

Is  it  strange  that  the  denizens  of  earth  should 
long  for  a  city  which  hath  foundations  ?  Welcome, 
then,  the  promise  of  a  continuing  city  !  "  God  is 
in  the  midst  of  her ;  she  shall  not  be  moved.'*  Of 
wha-t  avail  will  it  be  for  the  Edomite  to  cry.  Raze 


232  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

it,  raze  it,  even  to  the  foundations  ?  Walk  about 
tlie  heavenl}  Zion,  inid  go  round  about  her ;  tell  the 
towers  thereof ;  mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  con- 
sider her  palaces  ;  and  then  say,  what  weapon 
formed  against  her  shall  prosper  ?  What  engine  of 
human  or  satanic  malice  will  ever  beat  down  those 
walls  ?  What  army,  compassing  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem, shall  leave  not  one  stone  upon  arnother  ?  Ye 
who  sigh  over  the  desolations  of  terrestrial  cities, 
say,  who  is  the  Alexander  or  Timour,  the  Omar  or 
Saladin,  that  need  be  feared  ?  Earthquakes  are 
not  recorded,  eruptions  are  there  unknown.  Broken 
arches  and  columns,  tottering  walls  and  towers, 
never  meet  the  eye.  Thou  Better  Land !  '*  Violence 
shall  no  more  be  heard  in  thy  land,  wasting  nor 
destruction  within  thy  borders  ;  but  thou  shalt  call 
thy  walls  Salvation,  and  thy  gates  Praise.  Thy  sun 
shall  no  more  go  down ;  neither  shall  thy  moon 
withdraw  itself ;  for  the  Lord  shall  be  thine  ever- 
lasting light,  and  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be 
ended."  The  effulgence  of  eternal  glory,  the  glory 
of  the  Lamb,  beams  upon  it.  The  foundation,  the 
walls,  the  gates,  and  the  precious  stones  which 
adorn  them,  are  all  indestructible.  Age  after  age 
may  our  love  of  place  strengthen,  without  fear  or 
apprehension 


PERPETIITY    OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      233 

The  perpetuity  of  future  bliss  is  illustrated  by 
the  metaphor  of  an  eternal  habitation.  It  would 
be  superfluous  to  repeat,  in  regard  to  dwell- 
ings, what  has  just  been  said  in  regard  to 
cities.  The  picture  would  be  more  vivid,  however, 
in  the  ratio  that  hamlets  and  isolated  dwellings  are 
more  numerous  than  cities.  Who  has  not  read  of 
the  wrecks  made  by  the  avalanche  ?  Who  has  not 
seen  many  a  family  made  houseless  by  the  merci- 
less flames  ?  Who  has  not  felt  as  if  his  own  being 
were  invaded  in  the  decay  or  destruction  of  his 
paternal  roof  ?  The  rain  descends,  the  winds  blow 
and  beat  upon  men's  houses,  and  they  fall.  When 
the  modern  Jew  builds  a  house,  he  is  obliged  by 
the  rabbis  to  leave  some  part  of  it  incomplete, 
that  he  may  more  constantly  remember  the  present 
condition  of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple.  A  square 
cubit,  at  least,  of  the  wall  must  he  leave  free  from 
lime,  and  write  upon  it  some  Hebrew  inscription, 
and  usually  the  words  which  signify  ''  A  memorial 
of  desolation."  And  where  is  the  Gentile  house 
that  contains  not  such  a  memorial?  We  live  in 
tabernacles.  Our  graves  are  far  the  most  perma- 
nent of  our  dwellings.  Pyramids  outlast  palaces. 
Well,  then,  may  we,  who  are  in  tabernacles,  groan, 
20* 


234  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

being  burdetied ;  *^not  for  that  we  would  be  un- 
clothed, but  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be 
swallowed  up  of  life.  For  we  know  that  if  our 
earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we 
have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.''  We  know  who  it 
is  that  has  gone  to  prepare  a  place  for  us.  We 
know  on  what  rock  our  heavenly  mansion  is  founded. 
The  same  fact  is  brought  to  view  by  a  perma- 
nence of  actual  residence.  "  Him  that  overcome th  I 
will  make  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God,  and  he 
shall  go  no  more  out."  The  most  that  we  can 
expect  here  is,  now  and  then,  a  short  repose.  The 
most  we  see  of  each  other  is  just  to  bid  good-morn- 
ing, and  then  pass  along.  The  most  that  many 
talk  about  is  past  separations,  and  those  to  come. 
''Man  goeth  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners 
go  about  the  streets."  Scarcely  has  the  aspirant  for 
some  public  ofl&ce  secured  it  before  his  successor 
bows  him  to  the  door.  Scarcely  has  the  mansion 
been  completed,  and  the  occupant  begun  to  say 
unto  his  soul,  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink  and  be 
merry,  before  he  hears  Death  knocking  at  the  door. 
At  our  religious  services,  public  and  social,  there 
are  a  few  songs  of  Zion,  a  few  petitions,  a  word  of 
exhort ition,  and  then  we  go  out.     But  "Him  that 


PERPETUITY    OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      235 

overcometh  I  will  make  a  pillar  in  the  temple 
of  my  God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out."  He 
shall  go  no  more  out  into  the  rude  storms  which 
have  beat  upon  him.  He  shall  go  no  more  out  as  a 
stranger  and  pilgrim.  Not  a  caravansera,  but  an 
eternal  dwelling-place,  does  he  enter.  That  im- 
mortality shall  never  put  on  mortality.  He  shall 
go  no  more  out  of  hearing  of  joyful  hallelujahs ; 
nor  out  of  the  presence  of  patriarchs  and  prophets, 
of  cherubim  and  seraphim  —  most  of  all,  out  of  the 
presence  of  the  Lamb ;  for  he  shall  be  ever  with  the 
Lord. 

What  a  contrast  to  earth !  What  sadness  does 
this  world  witness  as,  day  by  day,  affection  sobs 
forth  its  farewell !  From  the  garden  of  Eden  our 
first  parents  w^ent  out.  From  the  land  of  his  na- 
tivity Abraham  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he 
went.  When  our  Lord  and  his  disciples  had  sung 
an  hymn,  they  went  out.  The  scene  at  Miletus 
was  no  unusual  one.  Not  without  a  struggle  does 
the  missionary  see  his  native  hills  sink  in  the  hori- 
zon. Do  not  the  parting  tears  of  the  bridal  day 
usually  mar  its  gladness  ?  It  is  the  charm  of  com- 
paratively uninterrupted  domestic  happiness  that 
makas  so  many  cry  out,  in  later  years,  Give  me 


236  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

back  n:y  youth !     Of  unnumbered  housebolds  is  it 
true, 

■    They  grew  in  beauty,  side  by  side, 
They  filled  )ne  home  with  glee — 
Their  graves  are  severed  far  and  wide, 
By  mount,  and  stream,  and  sea. 

Yes,  parted  thus  they  rest,  who  played 

Beneath  the  same  green  tree ; 
Whose  voices  mingled  as  they  prayed 

Around  one  parent  knee." 

The  minor  key  in  man's  breast  is  the  prevailing 
one  here  ;  then,  what  comfort  is  there  in  that  assur- 
ance, "  He  shall  go  no  more  out!  "  We  shall  then 
be  ever  with  the  Lord.  We  have  seasons  of  fel- 
lowship with  him  here  ;  times  when  he  comes  into 
the  midst  of  us,  with  his  gracious  "  Peace  be  unto 
you;"  favored  walks  with  him,  when  our  hearts 
burn  within  us  by  the  way.  But  in  the  city  of  God 
we  shall  be  ever  with  him.  Often  is  the  cry  heard, 
''0,  that  it  were  with  me  as  in  months  past,  as  in  the 
days  when  God  preserved  me  ;  when  by  his  light  I 
walked  through  darkness  ;  —  as  I  was  in  the  days  of 
my  youth,  when  the  secret  of  God  was  upon  my 
tabernacle  ;  when  the  Almighty  was  yet  with  me." 
"  They  he.ve  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not 


PERPETUITY    OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      237 

where  they  have  laid  him/'  "0,  that  I  knew 
where  I  might  find  him  ! ''  But  in  glory  there  are  , 
no  such  laments.  All  tears  on  account  of  his  ab- 
sence are  wiped  away  forever.  ''  In  thy  presence, 
0  Lord,  is  fulness  of  joy ;  at  thy  right  hand  are 
pleasures  for  evermore."  Heaven  is  not  a  harbor 
into  which  we  put  in  distress,  to  refit  for  the 
remainder  of  the  voyage.  ''  There  shall  be  no 
more  sea.'*  The  bosom  of  Jesus  is  the  home  of 
the  soul,  —  a  home  as  lasting  and  changeless  a& 
eternity. 

The  conception  of  eternal  duration  is  by  no 
means  easy.  As  our  thoughts  and  feelings  follow 
one  another  in  a  constant  flow,  the  consciousness  of 
this  awakens  the  idea  of  succession.  Thence  natu- 
rally arises  the  idea  of  duration,  which  expands  till 
we  conceive  of  duration  without  end.  Any  regular 
movement,  like  that  of  hands  on  the  dial-plate,  or 
the  earth  in  its  orbit,  serves  as  a  measure  of  dura- 
tion, and  measured  duration  we  call  time.  Looking 
backward  or  forward,  we  find  that  our  arithmetic 
fails  to  find  a  termination,  and  hence  we  speak  of 
an  eternity  past  and  an  eternity  to  come.  Time, — 
the  life-time  of  an  individual,  or  the  life-time  of 
our  globe, — is  only  an  isthmus  between  these  bound- 
less oceans.     Along  this  narrow  shore  our  race  for 


238  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

a  while  pitch  their  tents.  He,  alone,  wlu  inhab- 
iteth  eternity,  can  survey  the  whole.  Yet,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  ascend  our  little  light-house,  and  look  off 
toward  the  eternity  to  come.  With  our  backs, 
then,  upon  the  past,  let  us  strive  to  penetrate  this 
night  of  time  as  far  as  possible. 

Starting  with  an  annual  revolution  of  the  earth  as 
unity,  we  wheel  round  the  sun  till  we  have  meas- 
ured off  the  allotted  age  of  man.  We  continue  our 
revolutions  till  we  have  travelled  as  long  as  did  the 
oldest  man  who  ever  lived  :  "  And  all  the  days  of 
Methuselah  were  nine  hundred  sixty  and  nine 
years — and  he  died;"  call  it  a  thousand  years — but 
he  died.  Since  then  he  has  been  living  in  eter- 
nity ;  yes,  our  first  parents  are  now  in  the  world 
of  spirits,  more  fully  conscious  where  and  what  they 
are  than  we  ourselves.  They  are  now  about  six 
thousand  years  old.  We  take  this  period  as  unity, 
and,  for  convenience,  will  just  add  four  thousand, 
making  it  ten  thousand  years.  The  period  is  coming 
when  we  shall  be  as  old  as  the  progenitors  of  our 
race  now  are  ;  yes,  ten  thousand  years  old.  Ten 
thousand  years  with  the  Lord !  We.  dwell  a  mo- 
ment upon  that,  till  the  term  is  distinctly  before 
the  mind ;  and  then  multiply  by  ten,  and  we  send 
our  thcughts  rapidly  forward  one  hundred  thousand 


PERPETUITY     OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      239 

years.  One  hundred  thousand  years  with  the  Lord ! 
As  we  attempt  to  grasp  the  idea  cf  a  life  of  such 
length  it  grows  dim  and  shadowy.  0,  how  vener- 
able the  saint  of  such  an  age  !  But  that  being  the 
merest  commencement  of  eternity,  we  must  make 
it  a  starting-point  for  something  beyond.  Let  us 
here  borrow  a  familiar  device.  Imagine  a  bird  to 
come  and  remove  one  grain  from  Mount  St.  Elias, 
and,  after  one  hundred  thousand  years,  to  come  and 
remove  another,  and  thus  continue  till  the  whole 
mountain  is  made  level  with  the  plain.  Let  that 
Phoenix  repeat  her  visits,  at  the  same  intervals,  till 
the  whole  rocky  barrier  which  lines  our  western 
coast  has  been  borne  away  ;  yea,  till  the  entire 
globe  itself,  one  grain  in  each  hundred  thousanl 
years,  has  been  transported  to  another  planet 
During  that  period  we  dwell  with  the  Lord. 

Try  an  experimelit  of  a  more  tangible  character  ; 
fathom  the  ocean.  Let  every  inch  of  line  represent 
a  century ;  every  fathom  will  then  measure  off  a 
period  longer  than  from  the  creation  to  the  present 
hour.  Now,  heave  the  lead.  Down  it  goes, 
fathom  after  fathom,  and  still  it  runs.  Pay  out  the 
line,  it  still  sinks.  We  reach  the  end  of  our  cord, 
twenty-seven  thousand  six  hundred  feet,  —  more 
than  thirty  millions  of  years, —  but  we  have  not 


240  THE    BETTER    LAND. 

reached  the  bottom,  —  not  reached  the  limit  of  our 
fellowship  with  Jesus.  0,  fathomless  ocean  of  bliss  ! 
But  these  illustrations  end  in  dimness,  leaving  only 
a  confused  impression  of  indefinite  duration. 

If  these  confuse  instead  of  aiding  conception, 
something  may  be  demanded  that  shall  take  us 
more  rapidly  along  the  path  of  immortal  life.  Then 
discharge  a  cannon-ball,  and  follow  it,  as  it  flies  night 
and  day,  till,  after  eleven  years,  it  reaches  the  sun. 
Let  each  second  of  this  flight  be  a  century  of  our 
time,  and  before  reaching  the  mark  we  get  well  on 
into  billions  of  years.  What  would  the  period  be 
when  we  reach  a  fixed  star  ? 

But  this  transcends  all  possible  distinctness  of 
conception.  Then  let  a  more  sober,  though  suffi- 
ciently wild,  calculation  of  the  Hindoos  come  to  our 
aid.  Their  sacred  books  speak  of  great  ages,  con- 
sisting of  four  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand 
years.  A  thousand  of  those  great  ages,  or  four 
hundred  and  thirty-two  million  years,  make  one 
day  of  Brahma.  Let  such  be  our  days,  each  with 
a  morning  and  evening  twilight  of  a  thousand 
years  ;  go  on  thus  counting  the  years  that  you  shall 
be  with  the  Lord. 

But,  after  all  our  eflbrts,  we  are  baflled.  The 
eternity  of  that  bliss  remains,  and  will  to  creatures 


PERPETUITY    OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.      241 

forever  remain,  unmeasured  and  immeasurable. 
These  attempts  were  not  suggested  in  the  hope  of 
success,  but  only  that  a  glimpse  might  be  obtained 
of  the  vastness  of  everlasting  co-residence  with 
Christ.  Angels,  with  all  their  gigantic  powers, 
and  profoundly  as  they  are  versed  in  the  algebra 
of  heaven,  are  foiled  as  well  as  we.  There  is  one 
accessory  idea  that  may  be  more  easily  grasped ; 
no  lapse  of  duration  diminishes  the  term  of  our 
being  with  the  Lord.  The  sons  of  God,  who 
shouted  for  joy  on  the  morning  of  creation,  are  no 
nearer  the  end  of  eternity  now  than  they  were 
then,  and  when  we  shaU  have  reached  the  remotest 
point  in  the  future  which  we  have  been  able  to  con- 
ceive of,  we  shall  be  no  nearer  the  end  of  our  eter- 
nity of  bliss  than  at  this  moment,  for  no  such  end 
exists  to  be  approached.  It  is  an  interminable 
duration  of  glory.  Millions  of  ages  will  not  lessen 
it  an  hour,  for  it  runs  on  and  on  forever  and  ever, 
being  equally  and  always  everlasting.  Eternity 
alone  cannot  be  wasted. 

Such  is  the  duration  of  future  blessedness.  Away, 
then,  ye  heirs  to  the  unfading  crown,  away  with  all 
frivolities  !  Awake  to  loftier  aspirations,  to  nobler 
aims.  Be  ashamed  to  drivel.  Set  yourselves  for- 
ward a  few  thousand  years.  From  five  or  ten 
21 


242  THE     BETTER    LAND. 

hundred  centuries  of  dwelling  with  the  Lord,  look 
back  upon  your  little  heap  of  earthly  gold  —  upon 
the  honors  and  flatteries  of  this  life  —  upon  the 
assembly-room,  the  opera,  and  like  amusements. 
Can  you  anticipate  the  contempt  of  heaven  ?  Live, 
then,  not  as  a  mortal,  but  an  immortal  being. 

Give  to  eternity,  as  well  as  time,  a  tongue,  and 
let  it  speak.  Let  it  tell  you  the  worth  of  present 
vanities.  Let  its  solemn  tones  break  in  upon  your 
ambitious  schemes,  —  upon  your  luxuries,  your 
earthly  toil  and  discontent.  ''  Forever,  forever, 
forever  !  ''  exclaimed  a  holy  man  of  former  years, 
in  the  midst  of  a  repast.  Friends  could  not  quiet 
him ;  he  had  been  pondering  upon  heaven,  and 
was  so  swallowed  up  with  the  thoughts  of  eternity 
that  he  could  not  but  cry,  ''Forever,  forever,  for- 
ever ! '' 

Grasp  not  at  bubbles  ;  chase  not  shadows.  Let 
not  the  pitiful  honors  and  treasures  of  a  world  soon 
to  be  burnt  up,  arrest  you  on  the  path  to  glory. 
Believe  and  live  for  eternity.  We  are  borderers 
upon  eternity ;  we  live  on  the  marches  between 
two  worlds.  The  present  is  only  the  dim  dawn  of 
our  being.  Can  we  longer  live  so  insensible  to  our 
destiny  ?  —  to  the  eternal  verities  ?  "  Let  us  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow  we  die."     0, 


PERPETUITY     OF    BLISS    IN    HEAVEN.     243 

philosophy  for  the  brutes !  Go,  stamp  the  image 
of  a  swine  on  your  gold  —  grave  scorpions  on  em- 
erald and  topaz  —  but  do  not  so  degrade  your 
deathless  soul  by  the  grovelling  impress  of  earth. 

"  I  paint  for  eternity,''  said  Zeuxis,  when  asked 
why  he  took  such  unwearied  pains  with  his  per- 
formance. Live,  0  man,  woman,  live  for  eternity ! 
Live  in  the  sobriety  and  elevation  of  our  hope  to 
be  forever  with  the  Lord. 

"  Forever  with  the  Lord ! 
Amen,  so  let  it  be ! 
Life  from  the  dead  is  in  that  word, 
'T  is  immortality. 

Here  in  the  body  pent, 

Absent  from  him  I  roam  ; 
Yet  nightly  pitch  my  moving  tent 

A  day's  march  nearer  home. 

Forever  with  the  Lord ! 

Father,  if 'tis  thy  will, 
The  promise  of  that  faithful  word 

E'en  here  to  me  fulfil. 

So  when  my  latest  breath 
Shall  rend  the  vail  in  twain. 

By  death  I  shall  escape  from  death, 
And  life  eternal  gain. 


244 


THE    BETTER    LAND. 


Knowing  as  I  am  known, 
How  shall  I  love  that  word, 

And  oft  repeat  before  the  throne, 
Forever  with  the  Lord !  " 


[UIlVBRSITy] 


VALUABLE    WORKS 

PUBLISHED    BY 

GOULD   AND   LINCOLN 

59  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON. 


SACRED  RHETORIC:  Or,  Composition  and  Delivery  of  Sermons. 
By  Henry  J.  Ripley,  Prof,  in  Newton  Theological  Institution.  Including  Ware's 
Hintij  on  Extemporaneous  Preaching.     Second  thousand.     I2mo,  75  cts. 

An  admirable  -vrork,  clear  and  succint  in  its  positions  and  recommendations,  soundly  based  on  good 
authority,  and  well  supported  by  a  variety  of  reading  and  illustrations.  —  N.  Y.  Literary  World. 

We  have  looked  over  this  work  with  a  lively  interest.  The  arrangement  is  easy  and  natural,  and 
the  selection  of  thoughts  under  each  topic  very  happy.  The  work  is  one  that  will  command  readers. 
It  is  a  comprehensive  manual  of  great  practical  utiUty.  —  Phil,  Ch.  Chronicle. 

Tlie  author  contemplates  a  man  jyrepai-ing  to  compose  a  discourse  to  promote  the  great  ends  of 
preaching,  and  unfolds  to  him  the  process  tlirough  which  his  mind  ought  to  pass.  We  commend  the 
work  to  ministers,  and  to  those  preparing  for  the  sacred  office,  as  a  book  that  will  efficiently  aid  them 
in  studying  thoroughly  the  subject  it  brings  before  them.—  Phil.  Ch.  Observer. 

It  presents  a  rich  variety  of  rules  for  the  practical  use  of  the  clergyman,  and  evinces  the  good  sense, 
the  large  experience,  and  tJi'?  excellent  spin  of  Dr.  Ripley  ;  and  the  whole  volume  is  well  fitted  to 
instruct  and  stimulate  the  writer  of  sermons.  —  Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

An  excellent  work  is  hert  offered  to  theological  students  and  clergymen.  It  is  not  a  compilation, 
but  is  an  original  treatise,  f  esh,  practical,  and  comprehensive,  and  adapted  to  the  pulpit  olfices  of  the 
present  day.    It  is  full  of  valuable  suggestions,  and  abounds  with  clear  illustrations.  —  Zion's  Herald. 

It  cannot  be  too  frequer  Jy  perused  by  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  persuade  men.  -    Congregationalist. 

Prof.  Ripley  possesses  'he  highest  qualifications  for  a  work  of  this  kind.  Hia  position  has  given 
him  great  experience  in  I  he  peculiar  wants  of  theological  students.  --  Provic/ence  Journal. 

His  canons  on  selecting  texts,  stating  the  proposition,  collecting  and  arranging  materiais,  style,  de- 
livery, etc.,  are  just  ana  well  stated.  Every  theological  student  to  whom  this  volume  is  accessible 
will  be  likely  to  procure  ♦.—  Christian  Mirror,  Portland. 

It  is  manifestly  the  fru  *  Of  mature  thought  and  large  observation ;  It  is  nervaded  by  a  manly  tone, 
and  abounds  in  judicioui,  ^o'lnsels;  it  is  compactly  written  and  admirably  arranged,  both  for  study 
and  reference.  It  will  b"c.>n«  ^  a  text  Dook  for  theological  students,  we  have  no  doubt :  that  it  deserrea 
to  be  read  by  all  ministers  L  t\.  us  as  clear.—  N.  Y.  Recorder. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   ^^ORLD  UNMASKED.     By  John  Beeridgk, 

A.  M.,  Vicar  of  Evcrton,  Beu'"'>ru'hire,  Chaplain  to  the  Right  Hon.  The  Earl  of  Buchan, 
elc.  JVcMJ  Edition.  With  Lifb  ."^f  th-  Author,  by  the  Rev.  THOMAS  GUTHRIE,  D.  D., 
Minister  of  Free  St.  John's,  EJinbiirah.     IGme,  cloth,  50  cts. 

"The  book,"  says  Dk.  Guthrie,  iu  ^lis  InuMuctlon,  "which  we  introduce  anew  to  the  public, 
has  survived  the  test  of  years,  and  still  stanaj  toweiL*'*;  above  tilings  of  inferior  growth  like  a  cedar  of 
Lebanon.  Its  subject  is  all  important ;  in  doctrine  it  is  scKnd  to  the  core;  it  glows  with  fervent  piety  ; 
it  exhibits  a  most  skilful  and  unsparing  dissection  of  the  c.ai^  Drofes«or ;  while  its  style  is  so  remark- 
able, that  he  who  could ^weacA  as  Berridge  has  written,  woiild  h\jld  any  oongregation  by  the  ears." 

THE  SIGNET  RING,  and  Its  Heavenly  Motto.  Translated  from  the 
German.    Illustrated.    16mo,  cloth,  31  cents. 

tsS"  This  little  work  is  a  polished  gem  of  sparkling  brilliancy.  Seldom  within  so  small  a  compass 
has  such  weighty  teaching  been  presented  with  such  exquisite  and  charming  skill. 

Clergymen,  and  all  who  make  "  essays  to  do  good,"  are  particularly  invited  to  examine  it.  Benev- 
olent persons,  who,  like  Amos  Lawrence,  make  it  their  pleasure  to  give  away  useful  books  by  the 
quantity,  will  find  this,  from  its  small  size,  small  price,  intrinsic  value,  and  attraetive  style,  specially 
adapted  to  their  purpose.  (Am.) 


PUBLISHED    BY 

aOITLD      AND      LINCOLN, 

59   WASHINGTON   STREET 


THE    GREAT    TEACHER;  or,  Characteristics  of  our  Lord's  Ministry.     With  an  Intro- 
ductory Essay  by  Heman  Humpurev,  D.  D.    12mo,  cloth.    Price  85  centa. 


II. 

THE    GREAT    COMMISSION;    or,  tlie  Christian  Church  constituted  and  charged  to 

convey  the  Gospel  to  the  world.    A  Prize  Essay.    With  an  Introductory  Essay  by 

William  R.  Williams,  D.  D.    12mo,  cloth.    Price  *1.00. 


III. 

THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH;   Contributions  to  Theological  Science.    New  and  Re- 
vised edition.     12mo,  cloth.     Price  $1.00. 


IV. 

MAN    PRIMEVAL;   or,  the  Constitution  and  Primitive  Condition  of  the  Human  Being. 
Withaflnely  engraved  Portrait  of  the  Author.    12mo,  cloth,    Price  $1.25. 


V. 

PATRIARCHY?  or,  The  Family,  its  Constitution  and  Probation.     Contributions  to  Theo- 
logical Science.     12mo,  cloth.    Price  $1.25. 

lO*  The  immense  sale  of  Dr.  Harrises  Works^  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe^  attest 
their  intrinsic  worth  and  great  popularity.  (11) 


THE   PREACHER  AND  THE  KING; 

OR,  BOURDALOUE  IN  THE  COURT  OF  LOUIS  XIV.  Being  an 
Account  of  that  distinguished  Era.  Translated  from  the  French  of  L.  F.  BuN- 
GENER,  Paris,  fourteenth  edition.  With  an  Introduction,  by  the  Eev.  George 
Potts,  D.  D.,  N.  Y.  New  edition,  with  a  fine  Likeness,  and  a  Biographicai. 
Sketch  of  the  author.    12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

It  combines  gubstantial  history  with  the  highest  charm  of  romance  ;  the  most  rigid  philosophical  crit- 
icism with  a  thorougli  analysis  of  human  character  and  faithful  representation  of  the  spirit  and  man- 
ners of  the  age  to  which  it  relates.  We  regard  the  book  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  cause  not 
merely  of  general  literature,  but  especially  of  pulpit  eloquence.  Its  attractions  are  so  various  that 
it  can  hardly  fail  to  lind  readers  of  almost  cwery  description.  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

A  very  delightful  book.  It  is  full  of  interest,  and  equally  replete  with  sound  thought  and  profitabl* 
sentiment.  —  N.  Y.  Commercial. 

It  is  a  volume  at  once  curious,  instructive,  and  fascinating.  The  interviews  of  Bourdaloue,  and 
Claude,  and  those  of  Bossuct,  Fenelon,  and  others,  are  remarkably  attractive,  and  of  finished  taste. 
Other  high  personages  of  France  are  brought  in  to  figure  in  the  narrative,  while  rhetorical  rules  are 
oxempllfied  m  a  manner  altogether  new.  Its  extensive  sale  in  France  is  evidence  enough  of  its  ex- 
traordinary merit  and  its  peculiarly  attractive  qualities.  —  Ch.  Advocate. 

It  is  full  of  life  and  animation,  and  conveys  a  graphic  idea  of  the  state  of  morals  and  religion  in  the 
Augustan  age  of  French  literature.  —  N.  Y.  Recorder. 

This  book  will  attract  by  its  novelty,  and  prove  particularly  engaging  to  those  interested  in  the  pul- 
pit eloquence  of  an  age  characterized  by  the  flagrant  wickedness  of  Louis  XIV.  The  author  has  ex- 
hibited singular  skill  in  weaving  into  his  narrative  sketches  of  tlie  remarkable  men  who  flourished  at 
that  period,  with  original  and  striking  remarks  on  the  subject  of  preaching.  —  Presbyterian. 

Its  historical  and  biographical  portions  are  valuable;  its  comments  excellent,  and  its  effect  pure  and 
benignant.    A  work  which  we  recommend  to  all,  as  possessing  rare  interest.  —  Buffalo  Mom.  Exp. 

A  book  of  rare  interest,  not  only  for  the  singular  ability  with  which  it  is  written,  but  for  the  graphic 
account  which  it  gives  of  the  state  of  pulpit  eloquence  during  the  celebrated  era  of  which  it  treats. 
It  is  perhaps  the  best  biography  extant  of  the  distinguished  and  eloquent  preacher,  who  above  all  oth- 
ers most  pleased  the  king ;  while  it  also  furnishes  many  interesting  particulars  in  the  lives  of  his  pro- 
fessional contemporaries.     We  content  ourself  with  warmly  commending  it.  —  Savannah  Journal, 

The  aathur  is  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Church,  In  the  forms  of  narrative  and  conversations,  he 
portrays  the  features  and  character  of  that  remarkable  age,  and  illustrates  the  claims  and  duties  of  the 
Mcred  ottice,  and  the  important  ends  to  be  secured  by  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  —  Phil.  Ch.  Obs. 

A  book  wl.ich  unfolds  to  us  the  private  conversation,  the  interior  life  and  habits  of  study  of  such 
jnen  as  Claude,  Bossuct,  Bourdaloue.  Massillon,  and  Bridaine,  cannot  but  be  a  precious  gift  to  the 
Ajnerican  church  and  ministers.  It  is  a  book  full  of  historical  facts  of  great  value,  sparkling  with  gem« 
yf  thought,  poliwhed  scholarship,  and  genuine  piety.  -  Cin.  Ch.  Advocate. 

This  volume  presents  a  phase  of  French  life  with  which  we  have  never  met  in  any  other  work.  The 
author  is  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Paris,  where  his  work  has  been  received  with  unex- 
Bmplcd  popularity,  having  already  gone  through  /oi<rtecn  editions.  The  writer  has  studied  not  only 
the  divinity  and  general  literature  of  (he  age  of  Louis  XIV.,  but  also  the  memories  of  that  period,  until 
he  is  able  to  reproduce  a  life-like  picture  of  society  at  the  Court  of  the  Grand  Monarch.  —  Alb.  Trans. 
A  work  which  we  recommend  to  all,  as  possessing  rare  interest.  —  Buffalo  Ev.  Express, 
In  form  it  is  descriptive  and  dramatic,  presenting  the  reader  with  animated  conversations  between 
■ome  of  the  most  famous  preachers  and  philosophers  of  the  Augustan  age  of  France.  The  work  will 
be  read  with  interest  by  all  intelligent  men ;  but  it  will  be  of  especial  service  to  the  ministry,  who  can- 
not aftbrd  to  be  ignorant  of  the  facts  and  suggestions  of  this  instructive  volume.  — JV:  Y.  Ch.  Intel. 

The  work  is  very  fascinating,  and  the  lesson  under  its  spangled  robe  is  of  the  gravest  moment  to 
eyery  pulpit  and  every  age.  —  Ch.  Intelligencer. 

THE  PRIEST  AND  THE  HUGUENOT ;  or  Persecution  in  the  Age 

of  Loui*  XV.  Part  I.,  A  Sermon  at  Court ;  Part  IL,  A  Sermon  in  the  City  ;  Part  III., 
A  Sermon  in  the  Desert.  Translated  from  the  French  of  L.  Uungener,  author  of 
"  The  Preacher  and  the  King."    2  vols.  12njo,  cloth,  $2.25  [CT"  A  new  Work. 

V0-  This  U  truly  a  masterly  producfion,  ftiU  of  interest,  and  may  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  greateit 
Protestant  worka  of  the  age.  Ff 


I  M  P  O  R  T  A  N  T     W  O  E  K . 


KITTO'S   POPULAR    CYCLOPAEDIA   OF   BIBLICAL    LITERA. 

TUllE.  Condensed  from  tlie  larger  work.  By  the  Autlior,  J  oiiN  KiXTO,  D.  D,,  Author 
of"  Pictorial  Bible,"  "  History  ot  Palestine,"  "  Scripture  Daily  Readings,"  <fcc.  Assisted 
by  James  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow.  With  over  jive  hundred  Illustrations.  One  voU 
ume  octavo,  812  pp.,  cloth,  3,00. 

The  Popular  Biblical  Cvclop^dia  of  Literature  is  designed  to  furnish  a  Dictioh-art 
OF  THE  Bible,  embodying  the  products  of  the  best  and  most  recent  researches  in  biblical  literature, 
in  which  the  scholars  of  Europe  and  America  have  been  engaged.  Tlie  work,  the  result  of  immense 
labor  and  research,  and  enriched  by  the  contributions  of  writers  of  distinguislied  eminence  in  the  va- 
rious departments  of  sacred  literature,  has  been,  by  universal  consent,  pronounced  the  best  work  of 
Itsclass  extant,  and  the  one  best  suited  to  the  advanced  knowledge  of  the  present  day  in  all  the  studies 
•onnected  with  theological  science.  It  is  not  only  intended  for  mi?iisters  and  theological  ftudcnts, 
but  is  also  particularly  adapted  to  2)arents,  Sabbath  school  teachers,  and  the  great  ho<hi  of  the  religiou* 
public.    The  illustration,  amounting  to  more  than  three  hundred,  are  of  the  very  highest  order. 

A  condensed  view  of  the  various  branches  of  Biblical  Science  compreJiended  in  the  ivork. 

1.  Biblical  Criticism,— Embracing  the  History  of  the  Bible  Languages  ;  Canon  of  Scripture ; 
Literary  History  and  Peculiarities  of  the  Sacred  Books  ;  Formation  and  History  of  Scripture  Texts. 

2.  History, —  Proper  Names  of  Persons;  Biographical  Sketches  of  prominent  Characters;  Detailed 
Accounts  of  important  Events  recorded  in  Scripture  ;  Chronology  and  Genealogy  of  Scripture. 

3.  Geography,- Names  of  Places;  Description  of  Scenery ;  Boundaries  and  jMutual  Relations  of 
the  Countries  mentioned  in  Scripture,  so  far  ns  necessary  to  illustrate  the  Sacred  Text 

4.  Akch.eology,  —  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Jews  and  other  nations  mentioned  in  Scripture ; 
their  Sacred  Institutions,  Military  Affairs,  Political  Arrangements,  I>iterary  and  Scientific  Pursuits. 

fi.  Physical  Science,-- Scripture  Cosmogony  and  Astronomy,  Zoology,  Mineralogy,  Botany, 
Jleteorology. 

In  addition  to  numerous  flattering  notices  and  reviews,  personal  letters  from  more  than  fifty  of  the 
most  distinguished  Ministers  and  Laymen  of  different  relifiious  denominations  in  the  country  have  been 
*eceived,  highly  commending  this  work  as  admirably  adapted  to  ministers,  Sabbath  school  teachers^ 
iaeads  of  families,  and  all  Bible  students. 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter  is  a  fair  specimen  of  individual  letters  received  from  each  of  the 
gentlemen  whose  names  are  given  below:  — 

"  I  have  examined  it  with  special  and  unalloyed  satisfaction.  It  has  the  rare  merit  of  being  all  that 
it  professes  to  be.,  and  very  few,  I  am  sure,  who  may  consult  it  will  deny  that,  in  richness  and  fulness 
of  detail,  it  surpasses  their  expectation.  Many  ministers  will  find  it  a  valuable  auxiliary;  but  its 
thief  excellence  is,  that  it  furnishes  just  the  facilities  which  are  needed  by  the  thousands  in  families 
and  Sabbath  schools,  who  are  engaged  in  the  important  business  of  biblical  education.  It  is  in  itself  a 
library  of  reliable  information." 

W.  B.  Spragne,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

J.  J.  Carruthers,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Second  Parish  Congregational  Church,  Portland,  Me. 

Joel  Hawes,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  First  Congregational  Church,  ILirtford,  Ct. 

Daniel  Sharp,  D.  D.,  late  Pastor  of  Third  Baptift  Church,  Boston. 

N.  L.  Frothingham,  D.  J)., late  Pastor  of  First  Congregational  Church,  (Unitarian,)  Boston. 

Ephraim  Peabody,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Stone  Chapel  Congregational  Church,  (Unitarian,)  Bostofl. 

A.  L.  Stone,  Pastor  of  Park  Street  Congregational  Church,  Boston. 

John  S.  Stone,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  Christ  Church,  (Episcopal,)  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

J.  B.  Waterbury,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Bowdoin  Street  Church,  (Congregational,)  Boston. 

Baron  Stow,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Rowe  Street  Baptist  Church,  Boston. 

Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Carmine  Presbyterian  Church.  New  York. 

Samuel  W.  Worcester,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Tabernacle  Church,  (Congregational,)  Salem. 

Horace  Bushnell,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Third  Congregational  Church,  Hartford,  Ct. 

Right  Reverend  J.  M.  Wainwright.  D.  D.,  Trinity  Church,  (Episcopal.)  New  York. 

Gardner  Spring,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Brick  Church  Chapel  Presbyterian  Church,  New  Yotlc. 

TV.  T.  Dwight,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  Third  Congregational  Church.  Portland,  Me. 

E.  N.  Kirk,  Pastor  of  Mount  Vernon  Coneregational  Church.  Boston. 

Prof.  George  Bush,  author  of  "  Notes  on  the  Scriptures,"  New  York. 

Howard  Maleom,  D.  D.,  author  of  "  Bible  Dictionary,"  and  Pres  of  Lewisburg  University. 

Henry  J.  Ripley,  D.  D.,  author  of  "  Notes  on  the  Scriptures,"  and  Prof,  in  Newton  Theol.  In«. 

N.  Porter,  Prof,  in  Yale  College,  New  Haven,  Ct. 

Jared  Sparks,  Edward  Everett,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Robert  C.  "Winthrop,  John  »IcLean, 

Simon  Greenleaf,  Thomas  S.  Williams,  —  and  a  large  number  of  others  of  like  character  and 

•tanding  of  the  above,  whose  names  cannot  here  appear.  H 


niPORTANT  WORKS. 

ANALYTICAL  COXCORDANCE  OF  THE  HOLY  SCRIPTURES ; 
or,  The  Bible  presented  under  Distinct  and  Classified  Heads  or  Tcpics.  By  Johk 
Eadie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Author  of  "  Biblical  Cyclopaedia,"  "  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible,"  &c.,  &c.  One  volume,  royal  octavo,  838  pp.  Cloth,  5(3.00;  sheep,  $3.50. 
Just  published. 

Tlie  publishers  would  call  the  special  attention  of  clergymen  and  others  to  some  of  the  peculiar 
features  of  this  great  work. 

1.  It  is  a  concordance  of  siibjects,  not  of  words.  In  this  it  differs  from  the  common  concordance, 
which,  of  course,  it  docs  not  supersede.    Both  are  necessary  to  the  Biblical  student. 

2.  It  embraces  all  the  topics,  both  secular  and  religious,  which  are  naturally  suggested  by  the  entire 
contents  of  the  Bible.  In  this  it  differs  from  Scripture  Manuals  and  Topical  Teztrbooks,  which  are 
confined  to  religious  or  doctrinal  topics. 

3.  It  contains  the  whole  of  the  Bible  without  abridgment,  difffering  in  no  respect  from  tlie  Bible  in 
common  use,  except  in  the  classification  of  its  contents. 

4.  It  contains  a  synopsis,  separate  from  the  concordance,  presenting  witliin  the  compass  of  a  few 
pages  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole  contents. 

5.  It  coutains  a  table  of  contents,  embracing  nearly  two  thousand  heads,  arranged  in  alphabetical 
order. 

6.  It  is  much  superior  to  the  only  other  work  iu  the  language  prepared  on  the  same  general  plan, 
and  is  offered  to  the  public  at  much  less  cost. 

The  purchaser  gets  not  only  a  Concordance,  but  also  a  Bible,  in  this  volume.  The  superior  con- 
venience arising  out  of  this  fact,  —  saving,  as  it  does,  the  necessity  of  having  two  bookj  at  hand  and 
of  making  two  references,  instead  of  one,  —  will  be  readily  apparent. 

The  general  subjects  (under  each  of  rhich  there  are  a  vast  number  of  sub-divisions)  are  arranged 
as  follows,  viz. : 

Ministers  of  Religion,    Sacrifice, 
Miracles,  Scriptures, 

Occupations,  Speech, 

Ordinances,  Spirits, 

Parables  and  Emblems,  Tabernacle  and  Temple, 
Persecution,  Vineyard  and  Orchard, 

Praise  and  Prayer,         Visions  and  Dreams, 
Prophecy,  War, 

Providence,  "Water. 

Redemption, 

,  Sabbaths  and  Iloly  Days, 
That  such  a  work  as  this  is  of  exceeding  great  convenience  is  matter  of  obvious  remark.  But  it 
Is  much  more  than  that ;  it  is  also  an  instructive  work.  It  is  adapted  not  only  to  assist  the  student 
in  prosecuting  the  investigation  of  preconceived  ideas,  but  also  to  impart  ideas  which  the  most  care- 
ful reading  of  the  Bible  in  its  ordinary  arrangement  might  not  suggest.  Let  him  take  up  any  one  of 
the  subjects  — "Agriculture,"  for  example  — and  see  if  such  be  not  the  case.  This  feature  places 
the  work  in  a  higher  grade  than  that  of  the  common  Concordance.  It  shows  it  to  be,  so  to  speak,  a 
work  of  more  mind. 

No  Biblical  student  would  willingly  dispense  with  this  Concordance  when  once  possessed.  It  is 
adapted  to  the  necessities  of  all  classes,  —  clergymen  and  theological  students;  Sabbatli-school 
tuporintendents  and  teachers;  authors  engaged  in  the  composition  of  religious  and  even  secular 
works;  and,  in  fine,  common  readers  of  the  Bible,  intent  only  on  their  own  improvement. 

A  COMMENTARY  ON  THE  ORIGINAL  TEXT  OF  THE  ACTS 
OF  THE  APOSTLES.  By  Horatio  B.  Hackett.  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Biblical  Liter- 
ature and  Interpretation,  in  the  Newton  Theological  Institution.  \0^  A  new, 
revised,  and  enlarged  edition.    Octavo,  cloth.    In  Press. 

tB^  This  most  important  and  very  popular  work,  has  been  throughly  revised  (some  parts  being 
entirely  rewritten),  and  considerably  enlarged  by  the  introduction  of  important  new  matter,  the 
result  of  the  Author's  continued,  laborious  investigations  since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition, 
aided  by  the  more  recent  published  criticisms  on  this  portion  of  the  Divine  Word,  by  otlier  distin- 
cuished  Biblical  Scholars,  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  ^T) 


Agriculture, 

Genealogy, 

Animals, 

God, 

Architecture, 

Heaven, 

Army,  Arms, 

Idolatry,  Idols, 

Body, 

Jesus  Christ, 

Canaan, 

Jews, 

Covenant, 

Laws, 

Diet  and  Dress, 

Magistrates, 

Disease  and  Death, 

Man, 

Earth, 

Marriage, 

Family, 

Sletals  and  Mir 

MI  ALL'S    WOllKS. 


FOOTSTEPS  OF  OUR  FOREFATHEKS  ;  what  they  Suffered  and 

wliat  tliey  Sought.  Describing  Localities  and  portraying  Per^jonages  and  Events  con. 
spicuous  in  the  Struggles  for  Religions  Liberty.  By  James  G.  Miall,  autiior  of  "  Me- 
morials of  Early  Christianity, "  etc.     Containing  thirty-six  fine  Illustrations.     12ino,  1,00. 

An  exceedingly  entertaining  work.  It  is  full  of  strong  points.  The  reader  soon  catches  the  fire  and 
zeal  of  tliose  sterling  men  wliom  we  have  so  long  admired,  and  ere  he  is  aware  becomes  so  deeply  en- 
listed in  their  cause  that  he  finds  it  difficult  to  lay  aside  the  book  till  finished.  —  67*.  Parlor  Mag. 

A  book  to  stir  one  s  spirit  to  activity  and  self-sacrifice  in  the  work  of  God.  It  portrays  the  characr 
ter,  the  deeds,  the  sufterings,  and  the  success  of  those  heroic  non-conformists  who  stood  up  lor  the 
truth  against  tyranny.    It  is  a  book  worthy  of  a  large  sale.  —  Zioii's  Herald, 

A  work  absorbingly  interesting,  and  very  instructive.  —  Western  Lit.  Magazine. 

The  title  of  this  book  attracted  our  attention ;  its  contents  have  held  us  fast  to  its  pages  to  the  very 
close.  Its  story  is  of  principles  and  sutlerings  with  which  every  American  who  prizes  his  birthright, 
and  would  know  how  it  has  been  secured,  should  be  familiar.  It  embraces  graphic  sketclies  of  local- 
ities and  scenes,  of  personages  and  events,  illustrative  of  the  grand  struggle  for  religious  liberty.  It  is 
fascinating  in  style,  and  reliable  for  substance.  It  is  full  of  antiquarian  lore,  and  abounds  in  charm- 
ing local  descriptions.    Most  earnestly  do  we  recommend  it.  —  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

The  events  narrated  and  scenes  described  by  the  author  give  us  interesting  and  impressive  views 
of  the  great  sacrifices  made  by  the  noble  suflferers  for  the  priceless  boon  of  spiritual  freedom,  which 
American  citizens  claim  as  their  birthright.—  Ch.  Observer. 

This  volume  is  devoted  to  biographical  notices  of  those  noble  minds  who  made  the  grand  discovi 
eries  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  England,  and  who  counted  not  their  lives  dear,  so  that  the  Bible 
and  the  freedom  of  conscience  should  descend  upon  their  children's  children.  The  anecdotes  of  these 
men  and  their  times  are  full  of  interest,  and  are  drawn  from  the  most  authentic  sources.  —  Nat.  Intel. 

This  is  a  most  captivating  book,  and  one  that  the  reader  is  compelled  to  finish  if  he  once  begins  it 
We  really  wish  that  every  family  in  our  land  could  have  a  copy.  It  has  kept  us  perfectly  enchained 
from  beginning  to  bn&.—  Newport  Observer. 

MEMORIALS  OF  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY ;  Presenting,  in  a  grapliic, 
compact,  and  popular  Form,  JMemorable  Events  of  Early  Ecclesiastical  History,  etc.    By 
James  G    Miall,  author  of  "  Footsteps  of  our  Forefothers,"  etc.     With  numerous 
elegant  Illustrations.     12ino,  cloth,  1,00; 
V^  This,  like  the  "  Footsteps  of  onr  Forefathers,"  will  be  found  a  work  of  uncommon  interest. 

"We  thank  Mr.  Miall  for  this  volume,  which  our  publishers  have  reprinted  in  quite  handsome  style. 
There  are  plain  truths  plainly  told  in  this  volume  about  ancient  Christianity  and  the  practices  of  the 
Christians  of  ante-Nicene  times  which  we  could  wish  churchmen  would  lay  to  heart  and  profit  by.  — 
Episcopal  Register. 

It  is  well  written,  more  interesting  than  a  romance,  and  yet  full  of  instruction  and  warning  for  the 
present  generation.  -  Hartford  Times. 

A  work  of  no  ordinary  value  as  a  faithful  exponent  of  early  church  history,  and  we  can  most  cheer- 
fully commend  it  to  aU.    Every  Sabbath  school  should  be  supplied  with  copies  of  it.—  Ch.  Secretary. 

Mr.  Miall  is  a  Congregational  minister  in  England,  and  a  popular  writer  of  unusual  power.  He 
has  the  power  of  graphic  delineation,  and  has  given  us  pictures  of  early  Christianity  which  have  the 
charm  of  life  and  reality.  We  regard  the  volume  as  one  of  unusual  interest  and  value,  and  our  read- 
ers are  assured  that  its  glowing  pages  will  excite  their  admiration.  —  N.  Y.  Recorder. 

This  is  an  extremely  interesting  work,  embodying  classic  and  ecclesiastic  lore,  and  calculated  to  do 
much  good  by  bringing  the  church  of  to-day  into  closer  acquaintanceship  and  sympathy  with  the 
church  of  the  early  past.  —  Congregationalist. 

A  very  successful  attempt  to  popidarize  the  history  of  the  church  during  the  first  three  centuries. 
The  results  of  extended  research  arc  ofiered  to  the  general  reader  in  a  style  of  uncommon  interest. 
The  mass  of  readers  know  far  too  little  on  church  history.  —  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

We  have  in  this  volume,  embodied  in  a  lucid  and  attractive  form,  some  of  the  most  important  facts 
of  early  ecclesiastical  history,  in  illustration  of  the  original  purity  and  power  of  Christian  faith.  It 
is  a  work  of  labor,  and  labor  very  successfully  applied.  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

A  volume  of  thrilling  interest.  It  takes  the  reader  through  a  very  important  period  of  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  history.  We  are  gl«d  to  see  this  work.  It  cannot  fail  of  doing  good.  —  Western  m 
Messenger-  Yy 


MOTHERS  OF  THE  WISE  AND  GOOD. 

BY   THE   REV.  JABEZ  BURNS,  D.    D. 

Author  of  "Pulpit  Cyclopsedia,"  etc.     16mo,  cloth,  75  cents. 

V0-  A  beautiful  gallery  of  portraits  of  those  who  not  only  were  "  wise  and  good  "  in  their  own  gei»- 
eration,  but  whose  influence,  long  after  they  were  slumbering  in  the  dust,  went  forth  to  live  again  in 
their  children.  A  sketch  of  the  mothers  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  world,  showing  how  much 
they  were  indebted  to  maternal  influence  for  their  greatness  and  excellence  of  character,  is  given. 

A  handsome  volume,  containing  heaven-blessed  memorials  of  many  excellent  Christian  mothers^ 
for  the  encouragement  of  others.  —  Fhil.  Ch.  Oijstrvtr. 

If  this  is  not  a  popular  work,  it  must  be  because  mothers  are  scarce,  and  real  children  are  no  more. 
It  is  full  of  the  anecdotal  liteniture  of  the  subject—  tales  with  a  moral.  It  ouglit  to  be  in  the  Sabbath 
school  library,  and  m  every  sitting  room  where  there  is  a  mother  to  be  stimulated  and  encouraged  in 
her  sweet  and  holy  vocation.  G.  &  L.  have  done  many  good  things,  but  none  better  than  the  repub- 
lication of  this  book.  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

This  is  a  great  and  blessed  collection  of  important  subjects,  relating  to,  or  bearing  upon,  the  mater- 
nal influence,  in  forming  the  habits  and  moulding  the  character  of  children.  It  should  be  in  the 
home  of  every  motlier  in  our  land.  —  Albany  Spectator, 

One  of  the  most  delightful  volumes  we  have  read  for  a  long  time,  and  as  useful  and  valuable  as  it 
Is  delightful.  It  has  been  well  described  as  "  a  cabinet  of  charming  reminiscences,  of  facts  and 
morals,  of  incidents  and  principles  —  it  once  delightful  and  edifj'ing  —  a  gallery  of"  elect  ladies  "  and 
their  sons.    We  bespeak  lor  it  a  universal  reception.  —  N.  Y.  Commercial. 

We  wish  it  were  in  every  family,  and  read  by  every  mother  in  the  land.—  Lutheran  Observer. 

We  have  lingered  over  the  pages  of  this  most  attractive  book,  with  feelings  of  interest,  which  we 
cannot  express.  Slany  remembrances  of  youtli  arose,  and  took  full  possession  of  our  heart,  while 
in  some  instances,  we  scarcely  knew  whether  we  read  the  pages  of  the  work  before  us,  or  those  of 
memory.  It  is  well  that  instances  of  the  precious  influences  of  maternal  piety,  prudence,  and  love, 
should  be  recorded ;  but  who  can  tell  their  inestimable  value  ?  —  English  Free  Ch.  Magazine. 

THE  EXCELLENT  WOMAN,  as  described  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.,  containing  twenty-four  splen- 
did Illustrations.     12mo,  cloth,  1,00;  cloth,  gilt,  1,75;  extra  Turkey,  2.50. 

a®-  This  elegant  volume  is  an  appropriate  and  valuable  "  gift  book  "  for  the  husband  to  present  the 
wife,  or  the  child  the  mother.  It  treats  of  the  following  subjects  :  The  Virtuous  Woman;  Trust- 
worthy; Beneficent;  Active;  Enterprising;  Provident;  Jlanaging;  Energetic;  Vigilant;  Indus- 
trious; Humane;  Thoughtful;  Tasteful;  Creditable ;  TrafHckiug ;  Reputable;  Peaceful;  Domes- 
tic ;  Commended ;  Pre-eminent ;   Godly,  and  Rewarded  Woman. 

It  is  not  sufficient  praise  to  say  that  we  have  been  interested  in  the  pernsal  of  this  book.  It  is  just 
such  a  book  as  the  times  demand.  It  presents  to  the  female  mind  incentives  to  live  for  something 
more  noble  than  to  flit  like  a  butterfly  in  the  sunshine  of  capricious  admiration.  The  Excellent 
Woman,  described  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  is  the  text  by  wliich  the  writer  enforces  the  truth  that, 
true  dignity  and  honor  are  alone  attained  by  a  thorough  knowledge,  and  continued  practice  of  tlie 
relative  duties  of  life.    We  recommend  it  to  the  careful  perusal  of  all  our  patrons.  —  Mothers'  Journal. 

An  excellent  book,  elegantly  printed,  and  embellished  with  some  twenty-four  beautiful  engravings. 
We  commend  the  work  most  cordially  to  mothers,  sisters,  and  daughters.  —  Phil.  Ch.  Observer. 

It  will  bear  to  be  read  more  than  once;  and  each  successive  reading  will  reveal  some  new  getn 
of  thought  which,  in  the  general  mass  of  excellence,  had  been  overlooked  before.  —  Advertiser. 

Wc  have  commended  no  book  with  more  heartiness  and  good  will,  and  shall  be  glad  if  our  com- 
mendation places  it  in  the  families  of  our  readers,  as  a  book  to  be  read.  —  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

Full  of  wisdom  and  instruction.  —  Salem  Register. 

A  gem  of  the  first  water,  regarding  either  beauty  of  typography,  or  richness  of  contents.  —  Cong. 

THE  MARRIAGE  RING ;  Or,  How  to  make  Home  Happy.    From  the 
Writings  of  John  Angell,  James.    Beautiful  illustrated  edition.    Illuminated  title, 
and  elegant  variegated  borders  round  the  pages  of  the  book.    16mo,  cloth,  gilt,  75  cts. 
aa-  A  more  beautiful  or  appropriate  "  gift "  to  present  a  newly-married  couple,  cannot  be  found. 
A  beautiful  volume,  and  a  very  suitable  present  to  a  newly-married  couple.  —  y.Y.  Ch.  InteUigenoer, 
An  exquisite  little  volume.  inculcatiDg  practical  hints  and  wise  suggestions.  — "Sm.  Traveller. 

JJ 


A  WREATH  AROUND  THE  CROSS; 

Or  Scripture  Truths  Illustrated.  By  the  Rev.  A.  Morton  Brown,  D.  D. 
With  a  Recommendatory  Preface,  by  John  Angell  James.  With  beautiful  Fron- 
tispiece.    16mo,  cloth,  60  cts. 

t0-  This  is  a  very  interesting  and  valuable  book,  and  should  be  in  every  house  in  the  land.  Its  great 
excellence  is,  it  rna(/infics  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  presents  the  fbllowing  interesting  subjects  ^  "  Tho 
Cross  needed;  Tlie  Way  to  the  Cross;  Tlie  Cross  set  up;  The  sutt'erings  of  the  Cross  Mediation  by 
the  Cross  ;  Life  from  the  Cross  :  Faith  in  the  Cross;  Submission  to  the  Cross  ;  Glorying  in  the  Cross; 
The  Cross  and  the  Crown."    No  better  book  can  be  put  into  the  hands  of  "  inquirers  after  truth. ' 

This  is  a  beautiful  volume,  defending  and  illustrating  the  precious  truths  which  cluster  around  the 
atonement.    These  truths  are  set  forth  in  a  lively  and  popular  style.  —  FJiil.  Ch.  Chronicle. 

May  it  find  its  way  into  every  Christian  family,  and  be  read  by  every  member.  —  Ch.  Secretary, 

The  theme  is  the  centre  of  all  evangelical  religion,  both  doctrinal  and  experimental.  It  is  the  ex- 
cclkncc  of  this  work,  that  it  keeps  so  constantly  in  view  this  grand  instrument  of  salvation,  that  it 
might  have  been  entitled  a  "  walk,"  as  well  as  a  "  wreath,"  around  the  Cross.  —  Eelifjiovs  Herald 

"■  Christ,  and  Him  crucified,"  is  presented  in  a  new,  striking,  and  matter-of-fact  light.  The  style  is 
simple,  without  being  puerile,  and  the  reasoning  is  of  tliat  truthful,  persuasive  kind  that  '•  comes  from 
the  heart,  and  reaches  the  heart."  We  wish  this  Christian  classic  a  wide  circulation,  hoping  that 
many,  under  its  direction  and  influence,  may  be  found  "looking  unto  Jesus."  —  jV.  Y.  Observer. 

A  highly-approved  work,  issued  in  elegant  style.  The  author  presents  the  most  important  doc- 
trines of  our  holy  religion,  in  a  form  not  only  intelligible,  but  in  attractive  lights,  adapted  to  allure  the 
eye  of  faith,  and  hope,  and  love  to  the  glorious  objects  revealed  in  the  gospel.—  Phil,  Ch.  Jbserver. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  THE  PLAN  OF  SALVATION ;  a  Book  for  the 
Times.  By  an  American  Citizen.  An  Introductory  Essay,  By  Calvin  E. 
Stowe,  D.  D.  iVew  Ji^dition,  IScvised,  and  £ularged  by  the  addition 
of  a  new  Chapter.     12ino,  cloth,  75  cents. 

•  ,*  This  is  one  of  the  best  books  in  the  English  language.  The  work  has  been  translated  into  sev- 
eral diflerent  languages  in  Europe.  It  has  been  republished  by  the  London  Tract  Society,  and  also 
adopted  as  one  of  the  volumes  of  "  Ward's  I^ibrary  of  Standard  Divinity,"  edited  by  Drs.  John  Har- 
ris, J.  Pye  Smith,  and  others.    A  capital  book  to  circulate  among  young  men. 

One  of  the  most  original  and  valuable  works  of  recent  publication.  —  iV.  Y.  Christian  Intelligencer. 

A  useful  book,  written  with  great  spirit  and  point.  —  I'hil.  Presbyterian. 

In  many  respects,  this  is  a  remarkable  book.  —  y^.  Y.  Observer. 

We  liave  expressed  our  decided  opinion  as  to  the  exalted  merits  of  this  transatlantic  essay  on  thfl 
truth  of  the  Gospel.  We  think  it  is  more  likely  to  lodge  an  impression  in  the  human  conscience,  in 
favor  of  the  divine  authority  of  Christianity,  than  any  work  of  the  modern  press,  as  it  seeks  an  avenufl 
to  the  human  heart  somewhat  diflerent  from  the  ordinary  mode  of  approaching  it.  —London  Meth.  Mag, 

It  is  logical,  both  in  its  arrangement  and  in  its  reasonings.  It  is  the  work  of  a  clear  and  vigorous 
thinker  It  proposes  to  solve  these  two  qiiestions,  —  Js  Christianity  true  ?  and,  What  is  true  Chris- 
tianity f  Few  volumes  have  issued  from  the  American  press  that  bear  the  stamp  of  originality  ancj 
profound  thought  so  deeply  imprinted  on  every  page.—  Puritan  Pec, 

This  is  really  an  original  book.  Every  sentence  is  pregnant  with  thought,  and  every  idea  con 
duces  to  the  main  demonstration.  The  various  paragraphs  arc  bound  together  as  closely  as  the  sue 
cessive  steps  of  a  mathematical  argument.  At  the  same  time,  neither  abstruseness  vails  the  methocj 
nor  subtilty  polishes  away  the  power  of  the  reasonings  employed.  Its  conclusions  come  home  will 
certainty  to  the  business  and  bosom  "  of  every  man.  The  book  is  the  work  of  a  reclaimed  seep 
tic.  -  Edinburgh  United  Secession  Magazine. 

Though  written  with  great  simplicity,  it  is  evidently  the  production  of  a  master  mind.  There  is  u 
force  of  argument  and  a  power  of  conviction  almost  resistless.  —  London  Evangelical  Magazine. 

The  book  before  us  is  one  of  singular  merit.  As  a  piece  of  clear,  vigorous,  consecutive  thinking, 
we  scarcely  know  its  superior.  We  would  not  hesitate  to  place  it  side  by  side  with  Butler's  Analogy, 
merely  as  a  specimen  of  close  and  unanswerable  reasoning,  while  it  is  far  superior  with  regard  to  tUo 
evangelical  view  which  it  gives  of  the  plan  of  salvation.  —  Edinburgh  Free  Church  Magazine. 

"  The  president  of  Knox  College, Illinois"  says,  "I  have  just  taken  the  senior  class  through  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation.  It  is  decidedly  the  best  vindication  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures against  the  assaults  of  infidelity,  and  one  of  the  most  useful  class  books  which  I  have  ever  mot." 

A  Welsh  minister,  in  Michigan,  brought  a  copy  from  Wales.  It  has  been  translated  into  Welsh,  lUid 
U  circulated  broadcast  over  the  hills,  through  the  hamlets,  and  in  the  mines  of  his  native  land. 

li 


DK.   WILLIAMS'S    WOEKS 


RELIGIOUS    PROGRESS;    Discourses  on    the  Development  of   the 
Christian  Character.    By  William  R.  Williams,  D.  D.    Third  ed.    12ino,  cl.,  85c. 

This  work  is  from  the  pen  of  one  of  the  brightest  lights  of  the  American  pulpit.  We  scarcely  know 
of  any  living  writer  who  has  a  finer  command  of  powerful  tliought  and  glowing,  impressive  language 
than  he.    The  volume  will  advance,  if  possible,  the  author's  reputation.  —  Dk.  Spkague,  Alb.  Atlas. 

This  book  is  a  rare  phenomena  in  these  days.  It  is  a  rich  exposition  of  Scripture,  with  a  fund  of 
practical  religious  wisdom,  conveyed  in  a  style  so  strong  and  massive  as  to  remind  one  of  the  English 
V.  :te  s  of  two  centuries  ago ;  and  yet  it  abounds  in  fresh  illustrations  drawn  from  every  (even  the 
latest  opened)  field  c :'  science  and  of  literature.  —  Methodist  Quarterly. 

nis  power  of  apt  and  forcible  illustra'ion  is  without  a  parallel  among  modem  writers.  The  mute 
pages  spri  ig  into  life  beneath  the  magic  of  his  radiant  imagination.  But  this  is  never  at  the  exi)cnse 
Of  soli  Jity  of  thought  or  strength  of  argument.  It  is  seldom,  indeed,  that  a  mind  of  so  much  poetical 
invention  yields  such  a  willing  homage  to  the  logical  element.  —  Harper's  Monthly  Miscellany. 

"With  warm  and  glowing  language.  Dr.  Williams  exhibits  and  enforces  the  truth ;  every  page  radiant 
■with  "  thoughts  that  burn,"  leave  their  indelible  impression  upon  the  mind.  —  N.  Y.  Com.  Adv. 

The  strength  and  compactness  of  argumentation,  the  correctness  and  beauty  of  style,  and  the  im- 
portance of  the  animating  idea  of  the  discourses,  are  worthy  of  the  high  reputation  of  Dr.  Williams, 
and  place  them  among  the  most  finished  homiletic  productions  of  the  day.  -  N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

Dr.  Williams  has  no  superior  among  American  divines  in  profound  and  exact  learning,  and  bril- 
liancy of  style.  He  seems  familiar  with  the  literature  of  the  world,  and  lays  his  vast  resources  under 
contribution  to  illustrate  and  adorn  every  theme  which  he  investigates.  We  wish  the  volume  could 
be  placed  in  every  religious  family  in  the  country.  —  P/ttZ.  Ch.  Chronicle. 

LECTURES  ON  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER.     Third  ed.    32mo,  cl.,  85c. 

We  observe  the  writer's  characteristic  fulness  and  richness  of  language,  felicity  and  beauty  of  illus- 
tration, j  uslness  of  discrimination  and  thought.  —  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

Dr.  Williams  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  accomplished  writers  in  this  country.  We  welcoma 
this  volume  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  religious  literature  —  Ch.  Witness. 

In  reading,  we  resolved  to  mark  the  passnges  which  we  most  admired,  but  soon  found  that  we  should 
be  obliged  to  mark  nearly  all  of  them.  —  Ch.  Secretary. 

It  bears  in  every  page  the  mark  of  an  elegant  writer  and  an  accomplished  scholar,  an  acute  reasoner 
and  a  cogent  moralist.  Some  passnges  are  so  decidedly  eloquent  that  we  instinctively  find  ourselves 
looking  round  as  if  upon  an  audience,  and  ready  to  join  them  with  audible  applause—  Ch.  Inquirer. 

We  are  constantly  reminded,  in  reading  his  eloquent  pages,  of  the  old  English  writers,  whose  vigor- 
ous thought,  and  gorgeous  imagery,  and  varied  learning,  have  made  their  writings  an  inexhaustible 
mine  for  the  scholars  of  the  present  day.  —  Ch.  O'userver. 

Their  breadth  of  view,  strength  of  logic,  and  stirring  eloquence  place  them  among  the  very  best  hom- 
iletical  efforts  of  the  age.    Every  page  is  full  of  suggestion  as  well  as  eloquence.  —  Ch.  Parlor  Mag. 

MISCELLANIES.     New,  improved  edition.    (Price  reduced.)    12mo,  1,25. 

tsr  This  work,  which  has  been  heretofore  published  in  octavo  form  at  1,75  per  copy,  is  published  by 
the  present  proprietors  in  one  handsome  12mo  volume,  at  tlie  low  price  of  \;2.o. 

A  volume  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  a  library.—  N'.  Y.  Weekly  Rcricw. 

Dr.  Williams  is  a  profound  scholar  and  a  brilliant  writer.  —  X.  Y.  Evangelist. 

He  often  rises  to  the  sphere  of  a  glowing  and  impressive  eloquence,  because  no  other  form  of  lan- 
jjuage  can  do  justice  to  his  thoughts  and  emotions.  So,  too,  the  exuberance  pf  literary  illustration, 
with  which  he  clothes  the  driest  speculative  discussions,  is  not  brought  in  for  the  sake  of  eflect,  but  as 
he  natural  expression  of  a  mind  teeming  with  the  "  spoils  of  time "'  and  the  treasures  of  study  in  al- 
most every  department  of  learning.  -   X.  Y.  Tribune. 

From  the  pen  of  one  of  the  most  able  and  accomplished  authors  of  the  age,  --  Bap.  Memorial. 

We  are  glad  to  see  this  volume.    We  wish  such  men  abounded  in  every  sect—  Ch.  Register. 

One  of  the  richest  volumes  that  has  been  given  to  the  public  for  many  years,  —  JV.  Y.  Bap.  Reg. 

The  author's  mind  is  cast  in  no  common  mould.    A  delightful  volume.  -  Mtth,  Frot.       Bt> 


IMPORTAIST    NEW    WORKS. 

fHE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE  :    Social  and  Individual.    By  Peter  Bayne,  A.  M 

12nio.     Cloth.     #1.25. 

Contents.  — Ya-rt  I.  STATEMENT.  I.  The  Individual  Life.  11.  The  Social  Life. 
Part  II.  Exposition  anb  Illustration.  Book  I.  Christianity  the  Basis  oj 
Social  Life.  I.  First  Principles.  II.  Howard ;  and  the  rise  of  Philanthropy.  III. 
Wilberforce;  and  the  development  of  Philanthropy.  IV.  Budgett;  the  Christian 
Freeman.  V.  The  social  problem  of  the  age,  and  one  or  two  hints  towards  its  solution. 
Book  II.  Christianity  the  Basis  of  Individual  Cliaracter.  I.  Introductory :  a  few 
Words  on  Modern  Doubt.  II.  John  Foster.  III.  Thomas  Arnold.  IV.  Thomas 
Chalmers.  Part  III.  Outlook.  I.  The  Positive  Philosophy.  II.  Pantheistic 
Spiritualism.    III.  General  Conclusion. 

Particular  attention  is  invited  to  this  work.  In  Scotland,  its  publication,  durinf 
the  last  winter,  produced  a  great  sensation.  Hugh  Miller  made  it  the  subject  of  ar 
elaborate  review  in  his  paper,  the  Edinburgh  Witness^  and  gave  his  readers  to  under, 
stand  that  it  was  an  extraordinary  work.  The  "  News  oftlie  Churches,''''  the  monthly 
organ  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church,  was  equally  emphatic  in  its  praise,  pronouncing 
it  "  the  religious  book  of  the  season."  Strikingly  original  in  plan  and  brilliant  in 
execution,  it  far  surpasses  the  expectations  raised  by  the  somewhat  familiar  title.  It 
is,  in  truth,  a  bold  onslaught  (and  the  first  of  the  kind)  upon  the  Pantheism  of  Carlyle, 
Fichte,  etc.,  by  an  ardent  admirer  of  Carlyle;  and  at  the  same  time  an  exhibition  of 
the  Christian  Life,  in  \i»  inner  principle,  and  as  illustrated  in  the  lives  of  Howard 
Wilberforce,  Budgett,  Foster.  Chalmers,  etc.  The  brilliancy  and  vigor  of  the  author  s 
style  are  remarkable 

PATRIARCHY;  or,  the  Family,  its  Constitution  and  Proba  By  Johb 

Harris,  D.  D.,  President  of  "  New  College,"  London,  and  author  of  "  The 
Great  Teacher"  "  Mammon,"  "  Pre-Adamite  Earth,"  "  Man  Primeval,"  etc 
l2mo.    Cloth.    $1.25.    KT"  A  new  vsrork  of  great  interest. 
This  is  the  third  and  last  of  a  series,  by  the  same  author,  entitled  "  Contributions 
to  Theological  Science."    The  plan  of  this  series  is  liiglily  original,  and  has  been 
most  successfully  executed.    Of  the  two  first  in  the  scries,  "  Pre-Adamite  Earth"  and 
"  Man  I'rimeval,"  we  have  already  issued  four  and  live  editions,  and  the  demand 
still  continues.    The  immense  sale  of  all  Dr.  Harris's  works  attest  their  intrinsic 
worth.    This  volume  contains  most  important  information  and  instruction  touching 
the  family—  its  nature  and  order,  parental  instruction,  parental  authority  and  gov- 
ernment, parental  responsibility,  &c.    It  contains,  in  fact,  such  a  fund  of  valuable 
information  as  no  pastor,  or  head  of  a  family,  can  afford  to  dispense  with. 

viOD  REVEALED  EN  NATURE  AND  IN  CHRIST:  Including  a  Refutation 
of  the  Development  Theory  contained  in  the  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History 
of  Creation."  By  the  Author  of  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salt 
VATiON."    12mo.     Cloth.     $1.00. 

The  author  of  that  remarkable  book,  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation,' 
ha  devoted  several  years  of  incessant  labor  to  the  preparation  of  this  work.  Without 
being  specifically  controversial,  its  aim  is  to  overthrow  several  of  the  popular  errors 
of  the  day,  by  establishing  the  antagonist  truth  upon  an  impregnable  basis  of  reason 
and  logic.  In  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  a  mere  subjective  revelation,  now  so 
plausibly  inculcated  by  certain  eminent  writers,  it  demonstrates  the  necessity  of  an 
external,  objective  revelation.  Especially,  it  furnishes  a  new,  and  as  it  is  conceived, 
a  conclusive  argument  against  the  "  development  theory  "  so  ingeniously  maintained 
in  the  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation."  As  this  author  does  not  pub- 
lish except  when  he  has  something  to  say,  there  is  good  reason  to  anticipate  that  the 
work  will  be  one  of  unusual  interest  and  value.  His  former  book  has  met  with  th« 
most  signal  success  in  both  hemispheres,  having  passed  througli  numerous  editiono 
in  England  and  Scotlana,  and  been  translated  into  four  of  the  European  language* 
besides     It  m  also  about  to  be  translated  into  the  Hindoostanee  toaaue.  (m* 


MODERN    ATHEISM. 

MODERN  ATHEISM,  under  its  Forms  of  Pantheism,  Materialism,  Secu- 
larism, Development,  and  Natural  Laws.  By  James  Buchanan,  D.  D  ,  LL.D. 
12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

The  Author  of  this  -work  is  the  successor  of  Dr.  Chalmers  in  the  Chair  of  Divinity  In  the  Neir 
College,  Edinburgh,  and  the  intellectual  leader  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church. 

From  Hugh  Miller,  Authok  of  "  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  &c.,  &c.  — The  work  before  us  !■ 
one  of  at  once  the  most  readable  and  solid  which  we  have  ever  perused. 

From  the  "News  of  the  Churches."  — It  is  a  work  of  which  nothing  less  can  be  Bud,  than 
that,  both  in  spirit  and  substance,  style  and  argument,  it  fixes  irreversibly  the  name  of  the  author 
as  a  leading  classic  in  the  Christian  literature  of  Britain. 

From  Howard  Malcom,  D.  D.,  President  of  Lewisburo  University.  — No  work  has 
come  into  my  hands,  for  a  long  time,  so  helpful  to  me  as  a  teacher  of  metaphysics  and  morals. 
I  know  of  nothing  which  will  answer  for  a  substitute.  The  public  specially  needs  such  a  book  at 
this  time,  when  the  covert  atheism  of  Fichte,  Wolfe,  Hegel,  Kant,  Schelling,  D'Holbach,  Comte, 
Crousse,  Atkinson,  Martineau,  Leroux,  Mackay,  Holyoake,  and  others,  is  being  spread  abroad  with 
all  earnestness,  supported,  at  least  in  some  places,  both  by  church  influence  and  university  honors. 
I  cannot  but  hope  tliat  a  work  so  timely,  scholarly,  and  complete,  will  do  much  good. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  sollH  and  remarkable  books  in  its  department  of  literature;  one  of  the  most 
scholarly  and  profound  productions  of  modern  Christian  literature.  — Worcester  Transcript. 

Dr.  Buchanan  has  earned  a  high  and  well-deserved  reputation  as  a  classical  writer  and  close  logi- 
cal reasoner.  He  deals  heavy,  deadly  blows  on  atheism  in  all  its  various  forms  ;  and  wherever  tho 
•  work  is  read  it  cannot  fail  to  do  good.  —  Christian  Secretary. 

It  is  a  work  which  places  its  author  at  once  in  the  highest  rank  of  modem  relipous  authors.  His 
analyses  of  the  doctrines  held  by  the  various  schools  of  modern  atheism  are  admirable,  and  his 
criticism  original  and  profound  ;  while  his  arguments  in  defence  of  the  Christian  faith  are  powerful 
and  convincing.  It  is  an  attractive  as  well  as  a  solid  book  ;  and  he  who  peruses  a  few  of  its  pages  is, 
as  it  were,  irresistibly  drawn  on  to  a  thorough  reading  of  the  book.—  Boston  Portfolio. 

The  style  is  very  felicitous,  and  the  reasoning  clear  and  cogent.  The  opposing  tlieorics  are  fairly 
stated  and  combated  with  remarkable  ease  and  skill.  Even  when  the  argument  frlls  within  the 
range  of  science,  it  is  so  happily  stated  that  no  intelligent  reader  can  fail  to  understand  it.  Such  a 
profound,  dispassionate  work  is  particularly  called  for  at  the  present  time.  — Boston  Journal. 

It  is  justly  described  as  "a  great  argument,"  "  magnificent  in  its  strength,  order,  and  beauty,"  in 
defence  of  truth,  and  against  the  variant  theories  of  atheism.  It  reviews  the  doctrines  of  the  dif- 
ferent schools  of  modern  Atheism,  gives  a  fair  statement  of  their  theories,  answers  and  refutes  them, 
never  evading,  but  meeting  and  crushing  their  arguments.  — Phila.  Christian  Observer. 

Dr.  Buchanan  is  candid  and  impartial,  too,  as  so  strong  a  man  can  afford  to  be,  evades  no  argument, 
undertakes  no  opposing  view,  but  meets  his  antagonists  with  the  quiet  and  unswerving  confidence 
of  a  locomotive  on  iron  tracks,  pretty  sure  to  crush  them.—  Christian  Register. 

We  hail  this  production  of  a  master  mind  as  a  lucid,  vigorous,  discriminating,  and  satisfactory 
refutation  of  the  various  false  philosophies  which  have  appeared  in  modern  times  to  allure  ingenu- 
ous youth  to  their  destruction.  Dr.  Buchanan  has  studied  them  thoroughly,  weighed  them  dispas- 
sionately, and  exposed  their  falsity  and  emptiness.  His  refutation  is  a  clear  stream  of  l.ght  from 
beginning  to  end.  — Phila.  Presbyterian. 

We  recommend  "  Modem  Atheism "  as  a  book  for  the  times,  and  as  having  special  claims  on 
theological  students. —  Universalist  Quarterly. 

It  is  remarkable  for  the  clearness  with  which  it  apprehends  and  the  fedmess  with  which  it  states, 
not  less  than  for  the  ability  with  which  it  replies  to,  the  schemes  of  unbelief  in  its  various  modem 
forms.  It  will  be  found  easy  to  read-though  not  light  reading  — and  very  quickening  to  Ihouglit, 
while  it  clears  away,  one  by  one,  the  mists  which  the  Devil  has  conjured  around  the  great  doctrines 
of  our  Faith,  by  the  help  of  some  of  his  ingenious  modem  coadjutors,  and  leaves  the  truth  of  God 
standing  in  its  serene  and  pristine  majesty,  as  if  the  breath  of  hatred  never  had  been  breathed  forth 
against  it.  —  Congreoationalist. 

Dr.  Buchanan  has  here  gone  into  the  enemy's  camp,  and  defeated  him  on  his  own  ground. 
The  work  is  a  masterly  defence  of  faith  against  dogmatic  unbelief  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  uni- 
versal skepticism  on  the  other,  which  neither  affirms  nor  denies,  on  tlic  ground  of  an  assumed 
deficiency  of  evidence  as  to  the  reality  of  God  and  religion.  —  N.  Y.  Christian  Chronicle. 

It  is  a  clearly  and  vigorously  written  book.  It  is  particularly  valuable  for  its  clear  statement  and 
BOMterly  refutation  of  the  Pantheism  of  Spinoza  and  his  School.  —  Christian  Herald.  (t) 


IMPOKTANT  NEW  WORKS. 

YAITVEH  CHRIST,  or  the  Memorial  Name.  By  Alexander  Mao 
Whokter,  Yale  University.  With  an  Introductory  Letter,  by  iS'athauiel  W. 
Taylor, D.  D.,  Dwight  Trofessor  ol  Didactic  Theology,  Yale  Theological  Seminary. 
16mo,  cloth,  62c. 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  show  that  a  most  important  error  has  hitherto  been  entertained 
respecting  the  Hebrew  word  given  as  "Jehovah,  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  author  shows,  by  a 
historic-philological  argument,  that  it  was  not  "Jehovah,"  but  Yaiiveh,— that  it  does  not  mean 
"I  Am"  (self-existence),  bnt  'He  who  Will  Be,  or  Come"  (The  Deliverer))  m  short,  that 
the  "Jehovah"  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  '•  Christ"  of  the  New,  denote  one  and  the  same  bemg. 
Extract  feom  Dr.  Taylor's  Introductory  Letter.  —  The  argument  is  altogether  new 
and  original;  and  if  valid,  proves  what  many  of  the  ablest  theologians  have  believed,  without  resting 
their  belief  upon  grounds  so  thoroughly  exegetical.  It  raises  a  question  to  be  met  wherever  the  Bible 
13  read,  -  a  question  in  respect  to  a  fact  which  it  would  seem,  if  not  admitted,  must  at  least  be  con- 
troverted. If  the  view  here  taken  is  erroneous,  it  is  too  plausible  to  be  passed  over  with  indifference 
by  the  friends  of  truth;  if  true,  it  is  of  unmeasured  importance  to  the  Church  and  to  the  world. 

The  book  is  an  intensely  interesting  one  ;  rich  in  suggestions  with  regard  to  the  scheme  of  Provi- 
dence and  Grace  as  developed  under  both  Dispensations,  and  presenting  in  its  main  topic  a  subject 
that  is  deserving  of  thorough  investigation.  We  think  it  cannot  fail  to  be  widely  circulated,  and  to 
attract  in  no  small  degree  the  attention  of  scholars. —  Chicago  Christian  Times. 

This  little  volume  in  destined  at  least  to  awaken  thought  and  attention,  if  not  to  accomplish  all  that 
the  author  expects  of  it.  The  argument  to  a  cursory  glance  shows  great  probability,  and  is  worth 
a  serious  attention.  If  his  position  could  be  demonstrated  it  would  be  one  of  vast  importance  to 
theology,  and  would  give  in  some  sense  a  new  face  to  the  Old  Testament.  Though  the  work  relute» 
to  a  Hebrew  word,  it  is  written  in  a  form  to  be  understood  by  all  readers,  and  it  deserves,  what  w« 
have  no  doubt  it  will  receive,  acarefulexamination.— Puritan  Recorder. 

It  is  refreshing  in  these  days  of  many  books,  to  fall  in  with  an  original  work,  laying  open  a  new  vein 
of  thought,  and  leading  the  student  to  a  novel  train  of  investigations.  Mr.  MacWhorter  is  entitled 
to  this  rare  distinction,  for  his  conclusions  will  be  entirely  new  to  the  large  body  of  American 
scholars.  We  can  commend  the  volume  cordially  to  all  readers  who  enjoy  an  investigation,  marked 
by  great  thoroughness,  ripe  scholarship,  and  eminent  candor,  and  written,  too,  in  an  animated  and 
flowing  style.  We  anticipate  that  the  work  must  create  a  profound  sensation  in  the  theological  world, 
for  its  conclusions  are  tenable  ;  it  puts  at  rest  forever  all  doubts  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  —  Watch- 
man and  Reflectoe. 

HEAVEN.  By  James  William  Kimball.  With  degant  illiistrated  title- 
page.    12ino,  cloth,  $1.00. 

From  Pbof.  Huntington,  Editor  of  the  Belioious  Magazine.  — He  has  avoided  the 
perilous  and  tempting  extremes  of  rash  or  fanciful  painting  on  the  one  side,  or  of  a  too  exact  and 
literal  description  on  the  other.  .  .  .  One  is  surprised  at  the  mental  discipline,  the  variety  of 
information,  and  the  measure  of  literary  skill  evinced  in  the  body  of  the  work- 

The  book  is  full  of  beautiful  ideas,  consoling  hopes,  and  brilliant  representations  of  human  destiny, 
all  presentedin  a  chaste,  pleasing,  and  very  readable  style.  — N.  Y.  Chronicle. 

There  is  an  air  of  freshness  and  originality  about  it,  that  will  render  it  interesting  even  to  some 
whose  spirits  have  not  caught  the  upward  tendency.  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

This  is  a  delightful  volume,  written  by  an  active  business  man  of  this  city,  upon  a  subject  which 
must  always  possess  peculiar  interest  to  the  Christian.  —  N.  E.  Farmer. 

It  is  suggestive  of  elevated  thoughts  respecting  that  lofty  state  and  place  which  is  called  heaven, 
and  to  the  attainment  of  which  our  best  energies  should  be  directed.  —  Presbyterian. 

We  welcome  this  contribution  to  our  religious  literature,  from  the  open  pen  ol  a  Christian  mer- 
chant. Free  from  pedantry  and  the  conventionalities  of  logic  and  of  style,  it  comes  to  us  with  a 
fresJiness  of  thought  and  a  fervor  of  feeling  that  are  often  wanting  in  the  scnolar's  page.  The  author 
draws  illustrations,  som  times,  from  scenes  with  which  the  professional  teacher  is  little  conversant. 
—  N.  Y.  Independent. 

The  author  is  certainly  an  independent  thinker,  as  well  as  a  vigorous  writer,  and  has  written  a 
book  that  will  please  the  thoughtful,  and  will  astonish  pious  people,  who  seldom,  and  always  timidly, 
think.  Freed  from  the  technicalities  of  theological  science,  his  style  is  all  the  more  pleasing.  In 
short,  everything  about  the  work  is  fresh  and  racy.  The  author's  views  of  the  society,  joy,  and 
occupations  of  Heaven  are  somewhat  peculiar,  but  none  the  less  philosophical  and  acceptable.  We 
admire  him  intensely,  and  bid  him  God  speed.  —Western  Lit.  Messenqeb.  (w> 


CHIUSTIANS  DAILY  TREASURY. 

A  RELIGIOUS  EXERCISE  FOR  EVERY  DAY  IN  THE  YEAR. 

By  E.  Temple,  author  of  the  "  Domestic  Altar."  A  new  and  improved 
edition.    ]5mo,  cloth,  $1,00. 

t&-  A  work  for  every  Christian.  No  one  should  be  without  it.  It  is  indeed  a  "  Treasury  "  of 
good  tilings. 

If  any  book  of  modem  date  has  fallen  in  our  own  way  that  deserves  a  second  and  a  third  com- 
mendation, it  is  this.  We  wish  most  heartily  that  this  volume  were  the  daily  companion  of  every 
disciple  of  Christ,  in  the  land.  "Temple"  is  calm,  logical,  Scriptural,  devout,  full  of  light,  if  not 
"  without  any  darkness  at  all."  Could  not  other  copies  be  obtained,  we  would  not  part  with  our  own 
for  ten  times  the  cost  of  it.  —  Congregationalist. 

TTie  outlines  or  materials  for  reflection  and  meditation.  They  are  designed  for  the  Christian  in  hia 
daily  walk  with  God.  —  Puritan  Recordev. 

It  should  be  found  on  the  table  of  every  Christian  and  receive  his  daily  attention.—  Ch.  Times. 

It  diflFers  materially  from  any  thing  that  Ave  have  met  with.  The  author  has  a  most  happy  tal- 
ent at  conveying  much  important  truth  in  a  few  words.  It  is  altogether  an  admirable  work,  worthy 
to  be  read  by  every  Christian  who  deserves  to  be  quickened  and  sanctified  by  divine  truth,  and  wor- 
tliy  to  be  studied  by  every  minister  who  aims  at  simplicity  and  perspicuity  in  the  construction  of 
his  sermons.  —  De.  Sprague,  Albany  Atlas. 

A  useful  evangelical  volume,  designed  to  assist  Christians  in  the  work  of  daily  meditation  on  the 
divine  word.   -  Christian  Herald. 

A  grand  work  for  the  centre  table  of  every  Christian,  or  for  the  most  private  place,  where  they  hold 
communion  with  the  Invisible.  —  Alban;/  Ch.  Spectator. 

It  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  kind  that  we  have  ever  examined.  It  is  a  treasury  of  evangelical  truth 
forcibly  expressed,  in  a  manner  well  adapted  to  awaken  thought.  —  Phil.  Ch.  Gbsen-er. 

This  work  might  appropriately  be  called  a  guide  to  meditation.  The  plan  strikes  us  as  a  very  happy 
one.  Many  do  not  know  how  to  meditate.  A  careful  use  of  this  volume,  will  do  very  much  to  form 
habits  of  profitable  meditation  on  Scripture.  —Phd.  Ch.  Chronicle. 

Were  these  "  Exercises  "  less  animated  and  life  like,  we  might  almost  call  them  skeletons !  but 
skeletons  have  not  flesh  and  blood,  as  the  reader  finds  these  to  have.  We  prefer  them  to  any  thing 
of  the  kind  we  have  before  seen.  They  are  especially  adapted  for  daily  reading;  and  designed  to 
furnish  themes  for  profitable  meditation.  —  Dover  Star. 

This  is  a  precious  compendium  of  pious  reflections,  upon  happily-selected  Scriptures.  It  is  very 
superior  to  the  numerous  works  of  this  character  already  published,  and  will  afford  alike  pleasure 
and  profit  in  the  study  of  tlie  minister,  and  in  the  closet  of  the  private  Christian.  —  American  Pulpit. 

We  give  it  our  most  decided  recommendation.  It  differs  from  the  generality  of  works  of  a  some- 
what similar  style,  in  that  they  consist  of  reflections,  while  this  more  particularly  forms  the  outlinea 
or  materials  for  reflection  and  meditation.  We  feel  confident  these  outlines  will  be  found  highly  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Christian  in  his  daily  walk  with  God.  —Baltimore  Lutheran  Observer. 

There  is  no  volume  on  the  same  general  plan,  and  having  the  same  aim  as  this,  can  compare  witli  it, 
for  its  suggestive  properties  and  comprehensiveness.  —  Ch.  Mirror. 

Itbreathes  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  It  is  eminently  suggestive  and  practical.  The  Christian  who 
shall  daily  appropriate  its  treasures,  will,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  find  himself  greatly  enriched.  It  do« 
serves  a  place  in  every  Christian's  library.  —  N.  Y.  Recorder. 

This  excellent  treasury  furnishes  rich,  practical,  and  devotional  instruction.  It  is  well  to  feed  daily 
oh  such  spiritual  food.  —  N.  Y.  Observer. 

This  work  is  a  treasure,  indeed,  to  any  one  who  will  study  its  daily  lessons.—  Ch.  Index. 

THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST.  By  Thomas  a  Kempis.  Intro- 
ductory Essay,  by  T.  CHALMERS,  D.  D.  New  and  improved  edition.  Edited  by  the 
Rev.  Howard  Malcom,  D.  D.    18mo,  cloth,  38  cts. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  PASTOR :  His  Work  and  the  needful  Preparation. 
An  Essay  in  favor  of  Theological  Education.    By  Alvah  Hovkt,  D.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  in  the  Newton  Theological  Institution.    16mo,  pp.  60.    Flexil>J« 
cloth,  25c. 
0®-  A  work  of  great  pow«r,  and  admirably  adapted  to  tke  tlmea.  (Mm) 


NEW     VTORKS 

THE  TEACHER'S  LAST  LESSON.    A  Memoir  of  Maktha  Wmniro,  Utc 

of  the  Charlestown  Female  Seminary,  consisting  chiefly  of  Extracts  from  hej 

Journal,  interspersed  with  Reminisences  and   Suggestive  Reflections.    By 

Catharine  N.  Badger,  an  Associate  Teacher.    With  a  Portrait,  and  an 

Engraving  of  the  Seminary.    12mo.     Cloth.    $1.00.     Second  Edition. 

The  subject  of  this  Memoir  was,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  at  the  head  of  one  ol 

the  most  celebrated  Female  Seminaries  in  the  country.    During  that  period  she 

educated  more  than  three  thousand  young  ladies.    She  was  a  kindred  spirit  to  Mary 

Lyon,  the  celebrated  founder  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  with  whom,  for  strength 

of  character,  eminent  piety,  devotion  to  her  calling,  and  extraordinary  succeai 

therein,  she  well  deserves  to  be  ranked. 

MY  MOTHER:  or  Recollections  of  Maternal  Influence.    By  a  New  England 

Clergyman.    12mo.     Cloth.    75  Cents. 

This  is  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  a  work  that  was  first  published  in  1849.  It 
passed  rapidly  through  three  editions,  when  the  sale  was  arrested  by  the  embarrass- 
ment of  the  publisher.  The  author  has  now  revised  it,  and  added  another  chapter, 
60  that  it  comes  before  the  public  with  the  essential  claims  of  a  new  work.  .  .  . 
It  is  the  picture  of  a  quiet  New  England  family,  so  drawn  and  colored  as  to  subserve 
the  ends  of  domestic  education.  The  central  figure  is  the  author's  mother,  around 
whom  are  grouped  the  various  members  of  the  family.  Biographical  sketches  and 
lessons  of  practical  wisdom  are  so  iutermingled,  that  while  the  former  relieve  the 

latter,  these  in  turn  give  force  and  significance  to  the  sketches The 

author  has  already  distinguished  himself  in  various  walks  of  literature,  but  from 
motives  of  delicacy  towards  the  still  surviving  characters  of  the  book,  he  chooses  for 

the  present  to  conceal  his  name A  writer  of  wide  celebrity  says  of  the 

book,  in  a  note  to  the  publisher  —  "  It  is  one  of  those  rare  pictures,  painted  from  life, 
with  the  exquisite  skill  of  one  of  the  old  masters,  Vfhich  so  seldom  present  themselves 
to  the  amateur.'* 

THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST.  By  Thomas  A'Kempis.  With  an 
Introductory  Essay,  by  Dr.  Chalmers.  Edited  by  Howard  Malcolm,  D.  D. 
A  New  Edition,  with  a  Life  of  Thomas  A'Kempis.  By  Dr.  C.  Ullman,  author 
of  "  Keforraers  before  the  lleformation."  12mo,  cloth.  85  cents. 
%*  This  work  has,  for  three  hundred  years,  been  esteemed  one  of  the  best  prac- 
tical books  in  existence,  and  has  gone  through  a  vast  number  of  editions,  not  only  in 
the  original  Latin,  but  in  every  language  of  Europe. 

This  may  safely  be  pronounced  the  best  Protestant  edition  extant.  It  is  re. 
printed  from  Payne's  edition,  collated  with  an  ancient  Latin  copy.  The  peculiar 
feature  of  this  tieiv  edition  is  the  improved  page,  the  elegant,  large,  clear  type,  and 
the  New  Life  of  A'Kempis,  by  Ullmann.  Born  nearly  five  hundred  years  ago, 
Thomas  A'Kempis  is  almost  unknown.  "Wliile  the  Memoir  prefixed  to  former  Amer- 
ican  editions,  and  purporting  to  give  all  the  facts,  is  contained  in  a  few  paragraphs, 
this  life  extends  to  more  than  fifty  pages. 

Dr.  Payson,  in  conversing  with  a  young  minister,  once  said,  "  If  you  have  not  seen 
''Thomas  A''Kempis,^  1  beg  you  to  procure  it.  For  spirituality  and  weanedness  from 
the  world,  I  know  of  nothing  equal  to  it.'''' 

EXCLUSIVENESS  OF  THE  BAPTISTS.     A  Review  of  the  Rev. 

Albert  Barnes'  Pamphlet  on  "  Exclusivism."     By  Henry  J.  Riplet,  Newton  Theo- 
logical Institution.  12mo,  printed  cover,  13  cents. 

A  thorough,  candid,  yet  searching  Review  of  Dr.  Barnes'  unfounded  charges  against  the 
Baptist.s.  It  contains  much  important  information  on  controverted  subjects  between  Bap- 
tists and  Pedo-Baptists,  especially  that  usually  termed  "  Close  Communion."  No  better 
work  can  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  any  one  desiring  light  on  this  subject.  The  manner 
of  treatment,  the  size,  and  the  price,  all  render  it  admirably  adapted  to  general  circulation. 

(O) 


VALUABLE    WOKKS. 


THE  SUFFERING  SAVIOUR  ;  ok,  Meditations  ox  the  Last  Dayb 
OF  Christ.  Bv  Fred.  W.  Krummachsr.  D.D.,  Chaplain  tothe  King  of  rru-ssia, 
and  author  of  "^Elijah  the  Tishbite,"  "Last  Days  of  Ehsha .»  "The  Martvr  Lamb,'' 
ett.  etc.  Translated  under  the  express  sanction  of  the  author,  by  Samuel  Jack* 
SON.    12mo,  cloth.    5gl.25. 

The  leading  article  in  a  recent  number  of  the  New  York  Independent  is  wholly  de- 
voted to  the  subject  of  this  work.  Kespecting  the  work  itself  and  its  author,  it  speaks 
as  follows : 

"  It  is  refreshing  at  times  to  meet  with  one  who  views  the  work  of  Christ  from  the  emotional 
Btand-point,  without  immediate  reference  either  to  the  dialectic  or  the  practical.  Such,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  is  Krummacher  —  the  Krummacher  of '  Elijah,  the  Tishbitc*  A  series  of  meditations 
from  his  pen  on  the  last  days  of  Christ  upon  earth  has  just  appeared  under  the  title  of  '  The  Suffer- 
ing Saviour.'  The  style  of  the  author  need  not  be  described  to  those  who  have  read  his  '  Elijah;'  and 
whoever  has  not  read  an  evangelical  book  of  our  own  time  that  has  passed  through  many  editions 
in  German,  English,  French,  Dutch,  Danish,  had  better  order  the  Chinese  edition,  which  has 
recently  appeared.  *  *  *  We  like  the  book  — love  it,  rather— for  the  vivid  perception  and 
fervid  emotion  with  which  it  brings  us  to  the  Suffering  Saviour." 

"  Krummacher  is  himself  again  I  Till  the  present  work  appeared,  he  had  done  nothing  equal  to 
his  first  one,  *  Elijah,  the  Tishbite.'  "We  felt  tliat  the  productions  which  he  gave  to  the  world  during 
the  interval  were  scarcely  up  to  tlie  mark.  In  the  present  he  comes  upon  the  literary  firmament  in 
his  old  fire  and^lory,  '  like  a  re-appearing  star.'  The  translator  has  done  his  work  admirably.  •  *  * 
Much  of  the  narrative  is  given  with  thrilling  vividness,  and  pathos,  and  beauty.  Marking  as  we 
proceeded,  several  passages  for  quotation,  we  found  them  in  the  end  so  numerous,  that  we  must  refer 
the  reader  to  the  work  itself."  — News  of  the  Chukches  (Scottish). 

"  All  those  characteristics  which  made  '  Elijah,  the  Tishbite,'  so  deservedly  popular,  —  as,  duo 
appreciation  of  the  sulgect  ;  a  comprehensive  treatment,  which,  while  it  embraces  a  grand  whole, 
neglects  not  even  the  minutest  details  ;  fertility  of  illustration  ;  and  earnest  and  impressive  lessons 
inculcated  by  the  way,  and  in  affectionate  tertns,  —  all  re-appear  in  the  present  work,  which,  so  far, 
it  least,  as  concerns  the  dignity  of  its  subject,  is  of  infinitely  greater  importance  to  us  than  its  prede- 
cessor."—Bkitish  Ceitic. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  BAPTIST  PRINCIPLES  IN  THE  LAST 
HUNDRED  YEARS.  By  T.  F.  Curtis,  Professor  of  Theology  in  Lewisburg 
University,  Pa.,  and  author  of  "  Communion,"  etc.  12mo,  cloth.  $1.25. 
This  work  is  divided  into  three  books.  The  first  exhibits  the  progress  of  Baptist 
principles,  now  conceded  in  theory  by  the  most  enlightened  of  other  denominations. 
The  second  presents  a  view  of  the  progress  of  principles  still  controverted. 
The  third  sets  forth  the  progress  of  principles  always  held  by  Evangelical  Chris* 
tians,  but  more  consistently  bv  Baptists. 

It  is  a  work  that  invites  the  candid  consideration  of  all  denominations.  In  his 
preface  the  author  says :  "If,  in  a  single  line  of  the  following  pages,  there  should 
appear  to  the  reader  the  slightest  unkind  allusion  to  any  other  denomination  or  indi- 
vidual, the  writer  would  at  once  say  that  nothing  has  been  further  from  his  inten- 
tions or  feelings.  *  *  *  His  aim  has  been  to  draw  a  wide  distinction  between  parties 
and  opinions.  Hence  the  object  of  this  volume  is  not  to  exhibit  or  defend  the  Bap- 
tists, but  their  principles." 

"  The  principles  referred  to  are  such  as  these  :  Freedom  of  Conscience  and  Separation  oj 
Church  and  State  ;  a  Converted  Church  Membership  ;  Sacraments  inoperative  without  Clioice  and 
Faith  ;  Believers  the  only  Scriptural  Subjects  of  Baptism  ;  Immersion  always  the  Baptism  of  the 
New  Testament ;  Infant  Baptism  Injurious  ;  Open  Communion  Unwise  and  Injurious.  To  show 
the  progress  of  these  principles,  statistics  are  given,  from  which  we  learn  that  in  1792  there  was  but 
one  Baptist  Communicant  in  the  United  States  to  every  fifty-six  inhabitants,  while  In  1854  tlierc  was 
one  to  every  thirty  inhabitants.  The  Baptists  have  more  than  one  quarter  of  the  whole  Church 
accommodation  in  the  United  States.  ♦  »  *  The  entire  work  is  written  with  ability  and  unfailing 
good  temper."— QuAETEBLY  Jouenal  of  American  Unitarian  Association 

"  We  know  of  no  man  in  our  Churches  better  fitted  to  prepare  a  fair  exhibition  of  •  Baptist  Prin- 
ciples.' He  is  no  controversialist ;  and  his  discussions  are  in  most  refreshing  contrast  with  many, 
both  of  Baptist  defenders  and  their  opponents."—  Southern  Baptist. 

*♦  The  aim  of  the  work  is  important,  the  plan  ingenious,  yet  simple  and  natural,  the  author's  pre- 
paration for  it  apparently  thorough  and  conscientious,  and  his  spirit  excellent."— Watchman  and 
Befleci'Oe. 

"  The  good  temper  of  the  author  of  this  volume  is  obvious,  the  method  of  arranging  his  material* 
for  eficct  admirable."  — Pkesbyteri  AN. 

"  The  work  exhibits  ample  learning,  vigorous  argumentative  power,  and  an  excellent  spirit  toward 
fhose  whose  views  it  controverts.  Apart  from  its  theological  bearings,  it  potMMM  not  a  little  hiitori- 
calinterMt."— Nxw  YoBX  Tbibuvb. 

(r) 


WORKS   JUST   PUBLISHED. 


THE  BETTER  LAND  ;  or,  The  Believer's  Journey  and  Futubb  Homb.  Bj 
Rev.  a.  C.  Thompson.     12mo,  cloth.     85  cents. 

Contents.  —  The  Pilgrimage  —  Clusters  of  Eschol  —  Waymarks  — Glimpses  of  the  Lan^ - 
The  Passage  —  The  Recognition  of  Friends  —  The  Heavenly  Banqnet  —  Children  m  Heaven  — 
Society  of  Angels  —  Society  of  the  Saviour  —  Heavenly  Honor  and  Riches  —  No  Tears  in  Heaven 
-Holiness  of  Heaven— Activity  In  Heaven— Resurrection  Body— Perpetuity  of  Bliss  in  Heaven. 

A  most  charming  and  Instructive  book  for  all  now  Journeying  to  the  "Better  Laud." 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  CHRIST  ;  or,  Christianity  Viewed  in  its  Leading 
Aspects,  By  Rev.  A.  L.  R.  Foote,  author  of  "  Incidents  in  the  Lilc  ol 
Our  Saviour/'  &c.     lOmo,  cloth,  50  cts. 

MEMORIES  OF  A  GRANDMOTHER.     By  a  Lady  of  Massachusetts.     16mc 

cloth.     50  cents. 

"  My  path  lies  in  a  valley  which  I  have  sought  to  adorn  with  flowers.  Shadows  from  the  hil' 
cover  It,  but  I  make  my  own  sunshine." 

The  little  volume  is  gracefully  and  beautifully  written.  —  Jburwoi. 

ifot  unworthy  the  genius  of  a  Dickens.  —  Transcript. 

HOURS  WITH  EUROPEAN  CELEBRITIES.  By  the  Rev.  William  B. 
Sprague,  D.  D.     12mo,  cloth.    $1.00.    Second  Edition. 

The  author  of  this  w(  rk  visited  Europe  in  1828  and  In  1836,  under  circumstances  which 
afforded  him  an  opportunity  of  making  the  acquaintance,  by  personal  interviews,  of  a  large 
number  of  the  most  distinguished  men  and  women  of  that  continent ;  and  In  his  preface  he 
Bays,  "  It  was  my  uniform  custom,  after  every  such  Interview,  to  take  copious  memoranda  of 
the  conversation,  including  an  account  of  the  Individual's  appearance  and  manners  ;  in  short, 
defining,  as  well  as  I  could,  the  whole  Impression  which  his  physical,  intellectual  and  moral 
man  had  made  upon  me."  From  the  memoranda  thus  made,  the  material  for  the  present 
tostructive  and  exceedingly  Interesting  volume  is  derived.  Besides  these  "pen  and  ink" 
sketches,  the  work  contains  the  novel  attraction  of  a  fac-simiie  of  the  signature  of  each  of  the 
persons  Introduced. 

THE    AIMWELL    STORIES. 

A  series  of  volumes  Illustrative  of  youthful  character,  and  combining  instruction  with  amuse 
ment.  By  Walter  Aijiwell,  author  of  "  The  Boy's  Own  Guide,"  "  The  Boy's  Book  of  Morali 
and  Manners,"  Ac.    With  numerous  Illustrations. 

The  first  three  volumes  of  the  series,  now  ready,  are  — 

OSCAR  ;  or,  The  Boy  who  had  his  own  Way.    16mo,  cloth,  gilt.    63  cents. 
CLINTON  ;  or.  Boy-life  in  the  Country.     16mo,  cloth,  gilt.     63  cents. 
ELLA  ;  or.  Turning  over  a  New  Leap.     16mo,  cloth,  gilt.     63  cents. 

>e®-  Each  volume  will  be  complete  and  independent  of  itself,  but  the  series  will  be  con- 
nected by  a  partial  identity  of  character,  localities,  &c. 

THE  PLURALITY  OP  WORLDS.  A  New  Edition.  With  a  Supplementary 
Dialogue,  in  which  the  author's  reviewers  are  reviewed.     12mo,  cloth.     $1 

This  masterly  production,  which  has  excited  so  much  Interest  In  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
will  now  have  an  increased  attraction  in  the  addition  of  the  Supplement,  in  which  the  authcr'i 
eviewers  are  triumphantly  reviewed. 

ig®-  The  Supplement  will  be  furnished  separate  to  those  who  have  the  original  work. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  SCIENCE  UPON  INTELLECTUAL 
EDUCATION.  By  William  Whewell,  D.  D.,  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge 
Eng.,  and  the  alleged  author  of  "  Plurality  of  Worlds."    16mo,  cloth.    25  cts 

THE  LANDING  AT  CAPE  ANNE  ,  or.  The  Charter  op  the  First  Pkhma. 
NENT  Colony  on  the  Territory  op  the  Massachusetts  Company.  Now 
discovered  and  first  published  from  the  original  manuscript,  with  an  in 
quiry  into  its  authority,  and  a  History  op  the  Colony,  1624-1628.  Roge: 
Conant  Governor.     By  John  Wingate  Thornton.     8vo,  cloth.     $1.50. 

This  is  a  curious  and  exceedingly  valuable  historical  document. 

4  volume  of  great  'nterest  and  importance  —  Evening  Traveller.  (k) 


WORKS  BY  DR.  TWEEDIE. 

GLAD  TIDINGS  ;  or,  The  Gospel  of  Peace.  A  series  of  Daily  Meditations 
for  Christian  Disciples.  By  lie  v.  W.  K,  Tvveedie,  D.  D.  With  an  elegant 
Illustrated  Title-page.     Itmo,  cloth.     G3  cents. 

These  meditations,  though  brief,  are  comprehensive  and  weighty.  It  la  remarkable  for  con- 
densation, for  a  deep  evangelical  tone,  and  for  putting  itself  into  direct  contact  with  the  con- 
science and  the  heart.  —  Albany  Aryvs. 

We  heartily  wish  this  little  book  were  in  every  Christian  family,  and  could  be  carefully  read 
through  by  every  Christian.  —  iV.  T.  Evangelist. 

This  sweet  little  volume  challenges  our  wannest  commendation.  Every  page  glows  with 
Christian  example  and  goodness.  The  penisal  of  one  chapter  will  awake  a  keener  relish  for  the 
commencement  of  another.  The  Frontispiece,  representing  the  shepherd's  watch  of  their  Hocks 
by  night,  is  sublimely  beautiful.  —  Latvrence  Courier. 

Earnest  and  pointed  in  stjie,  pithy  and  practical  in  thought,  thoroughly  evangelical,  it  is  not 
only  a  useful  but  a  valimble  work.  — Beligious  Herald. 

A  LAMP  TO  THE  PATH  ;  or,  the  Bible  in  the  Heart,  the  Home,  and 
the  Market-place.  With  an  elegant  Illustrated  Title-page.  16mo,  cloth. 
63  cents. 

The  power,  the  beauty,  and  the  necessity  of  religion  In  the  heart,  the  home,  the  workshop, 
the  market-place,  the  professions,  and  in  social  intercourse,  are  happily  illustrated,  and  no  per- 
son can  read  the  work  without  being  greatly  benefited.  It  is  a  Jewel,  and  should  enrich  every 
family  library.  The  last  chapter,  entitled,  "  Ileligion  the  Crown  and  Glory  of  Man's  Life,"  is 
worthy  of  being  engraven,  as  with  the  point  of  a  diamond,  on  every  human  heant.  —  Southern 
Literary  Messenger. 

We  wish  every  family  could  read  the  volume.  Society,  In  that  event,  would  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude  to  the  author  for  many  a  personal  reformation.  —  Peterson's  Magazine. 

This  little  volume  brings  Christianity  home  to  the  bosoms  and  business  of  men.  It  is  a  lucid. 
Impressive,  and  beautiful  exposition  of  Christian  obligations.  —  Albany  Ai-gtis. 

It  is  eloquently  written,  with  a  searching  closeness  as  well  as  rare  correctness  of  style  ;  and 
l)oth  young  men  and  old  may  ponder  over  its  pages  with  profit.  —  Yankee  Blade. 

SEED-TIME  AND  HARVEST;  or,  Sow  Well  and  Reap  Well.  A  Book  for 
the  Young.    With  an  elegant  Illustrated  Title-page.    iGmo,  cloth.    63  cents. 

An  excellent  little  book,  more  particularly  designed  for  the  information  and  religious  Im- 
provement of  young  readers  ;  but  persons  of  all  ages  may  derive  pleasure  and  profit  from  its 
perusal.  —  iVcM)  Yi>rk  Commercial. 

The  great  thought  which  this  work  is  designed  to,  and  does  very  successfully,  develop,  comes 
out  on  the  title-page.  No  person  can  read  it  attentively,  without  feeling  that  there  is  an  im- 
portance attached  even  to  what  seem  to  be  his  most  indifferent  actions.  —  Pwrifaw  Recorder. 

A  most  precious  volume  this  to  the  young,  taking  their  first  step  and  first  look  in  life  ;  teach- 
ing tliem,  in  language  at  once  simple  and  elevated,  that  if  they  would  reap  well,  they  must  sow 
well ;  that  if  they  would  enjoy  an  old  age  of  honor,  they  must  be  trained  in  youth  to  virtue. — 
Dr.  Sprague,  Albany  Spectator. 

The  object  of  this  little  book  is  to  Impress  the  young  with  the  great  truth  "  that  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap  ;"  showing  also  "  how  much  depends  upon  a  single  principle 
adopted  or  a  single  deed  done  "  In  early  life.  We  hope  it  will  have  many  readers.  —Ch.  Herald. 

THE  MORN  OF  LIFE  ;  or,  Examples  of  Female  Excellence.  A  Book  for 
Young  Ladies.     ICmo,  cloth.     In  press. 

fiSr  The  above  works,  by  Dr.  Tweedie,  are  of  uniform  size  and  style.  They  are  most  charm- 
ing, pious,  and  instructive  works,  beautifully  gotten  up,  and  well  adapted  for  "  gift-books.'' 

FAMILY  WORSHIP ;  or,  the  Morning  and  Evening  Sacrifice.  One  volume. 
Octavo,  cloth.      In  press.  (h) 


WORKS  BY  JOHN  ANGELL  JAMES. 


THE  CHURCH  IN  EARNEST.     Seventh  thousand.     18mo,  cloth,  40  eta 

Mr.  James's  writings  all  have  one  object,  to  do  execution.  He  writes  under  impulse  —  "  Do  some- 
thing, do  it."  He  aims  to  raise  tlie  standard  of  piety,  holiness  in  the  heart,  and  holiness  of  life.  The 
influence  which  this  work  will  exert  on  the  church  must  be  higlily  salutary.  —  Furitan  Recorder. 

We  are  glad  to  see  that  this  subject  has  arrested  the  pen  of  Mr.  James.  "We  welcome  and  recon» 
mend  it.  Let  it  be  scattered  lilce  autumn  leaves.  We  believe  its  perusal  will  do  much  to  convince 
of  the  high  nnssion  of  the  Christian,  and  to  arouse  the  Christian  to  fulfil  it.  The  reader  will  feel 
that  he  is  called  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  not  to  enjoy  only,  but  to  labor.  —  iV.  Y.  Recorder. 

Those  who  have  the  means  should  purchase  a  number  of  copies  of  this  work,  and  lend  them  to 
church  members,  and  keep  them  in  circulation  till  they  are  worn  out!  —  Mothers'  Assistant. 

Probably  no  writer  of  the  present  age  has  done  so  much  to  promote  the  interests  of  vital  and  practi- 
cal religion  as  Mr.  James.  The  present  work  in  ability  and  adaptation  is  inferior  to  none  preceding 
it,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  professor.  —  Congregational  Journal. 

A  most  timely  prompter  is  this  new  work  of  Mr.  James.  He  points  out  the  nature  and  effcts  of 
earnest  piety  with  reference  to  individual  action  for  the  promotion  of  one's  personal  religion,  the  sal' 
ration  of  others,  the  religion  of  the  family,  and  of  the  cliurch.  No  time  should  be  lost  in  putting  the 
book  into  the  hands  of  as  many  church  members  as  possible.—  Ch.  Mirror,  Portland. 

A  more  important  work  at  the  present  time  could  not  well  be  presented  to  the  Christian  world. 
Every  church  member  should  have  a  copy.  —  Bap.  Memorial. 

"  Its  arguments  and  appeals  are  well  adapted  to  prompt  to  action,  and  the  times  demand  such  a 
l)0ok.    We  trust  it  will  be  universally  read."—  iV;  Y.  Observer. 

To  give  the  work  a  word  of  approbation,  were  but  a  poor  tribute.  It  should  receive  tlie  earnest  at- 
tention of  professing  Christians  of  every  name.  —  Southern  Lit.  Gazette. 

CHRISTIAN  PROGRESS ;  a  Sequel  to  "  The  Anxious  Inquirer  after 
Salvation."    18mo,  cloth,  30  cts. 

We  remember  none  of  the  numerous  works  of  James's  —  all  of  them  of  uncommon  practical  excel- 
lence, which  is  better  calculated  for  circulation  among  the  cliurch  at  large  than  this.  The  necessity, 
nature,  and  means  of  progress  in  the  Divine  life,  with  mistakes  concerning  it,  hindrances  to  it,  motives 
to  it,  and  encouragements  in  it,  here  find  brief,  appropriate,  satisfying  and  edifying  discussion,  while 
a  deeply-devout  spirit  breathes  through  the  whole. 

It  ought  to  be  sold  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  until  every  church  member  in  the  land  has  bought, 
read,  marked,  learned,  and  inwardly  digested  a  copy.  —  Congrcgationalist. 

This  work  is  the  latest  production  of  its  gifted  author;  and  although  it  is  styled  a  ^ sequel"  io  a 
preceding  work,  is,  of  itself,  adapted  to  the  case  of  every  professing  Christian.  To  every  lover  of 
truth  and  progressive  holiness,  we  commend  this  little  volume.  —  Ch.  Secretary. 

So  eminently  is  it  adapted  to  do  good,  that  we  feel  no  surprise  that  it  should  make  one  of  the  pub- 
lishers' excellent  publications.  It  exhibits  the  whole  subject  of  growth  in  grace  with  great  simplicity 
and  clearness,  and  guards  the  young  Christian  against  many  mistakes,  into  which  he  is  in  danger  of 
fiilling.  It  is  of  the  same  general  cha-racter  with  all  James's  works,  —  earnest,  persuasive,  tender,  and 
faithful.  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

This  work  is  one  of  a  class  very  much  needed  in  our  churches  at  this  time.  The  subject  is  treated 
in  a  faithful  and  earnest  manner,  characteristic  of  Mr.  James's  writings,  and  which  has  rendered  hijn 
one  of  the  most  popular  and  useful  religious  writers  of  the  present  day.  —  Zion's  Advocate. 

It  is  written  as  a  sequel  to  the  anxious  inquirer,  "whose  praise  is  in  all  the  churches."  Tlie  sub- 
ject is  one  of  equal  importance,  and  the  author  addresses  himself  with  characteristic  ardor  and  suc- 
cess to  the  theme.  —  Southern  Baptist. 

CHURCH  MEMBER'S  GUIDE.  Edited  by  the  Ret.  J.  Overton 
Choules,  D.  D.  New  Edition.  With  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  the  Rev.  Hubbard 
WiNSLOW.    Cloth,  33  cts. 

The  spontaneous  effusion  of  our  heart,  on  laying  the  book  down,  was,  —  may  every  church  member 
in  our  land  possess  this  book,  and  be  blessed  with  all  the  happiness  which  conformity  to  its  evangeli- 
cal sentiments  and  directions  is  calculated  to  confer.  —  Christian  Secretary. 

A  pastor  writes, "  I  sincerely  wish  that  every  professor  of  religion  in  the  land  may  possess  this  ex- 
cellent manual.  I  am  anxious  that  every  member  of  my  church  should  possess  it,  and  shall  be  happy 
to  promote  its  circulalioii  itill  more  extensively."  Kk 


IMPOllTANT  NEW  WORKS. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  ROCKS  :  or,  Geology  in  its  Bearings  on 
the  two  Theologies,  Natural  and  Revealed.  By  Hugh  Miller.  "  Thou  shalt  be 
in  league  with  the  stones  of  the  field."  —  Job.  With  numerous  elegant  illustrationB, 
12mo,  cloth,  !i?1.25. 

The  completion  of  this  important  work  employed  the  last  hours  of  the  lamented  author,  and  may 
be  considered  his  greatest  and  in  fact  his  life  work. 

MACAULAY  ON  SCOTLAND.  A  Critique.  By  Hugh  Miller, 
Author  of  "  Footprints  of  the  Creator,-'  &c.    16ma  flexible  cloth,  26c. 

When  wc  read  Macaulay's  last  volumes,  we  said  that  they  wanted  nothing  but  the  fiction  to  make 
an  epix;  poem;  and  now  it  seems  that  they  are  not  wanting  even  in  that.  —  Puritan  Recoedek. 

He  meets  tlie  historian  at  the  fountain  head,  tracks  him  tlirough  the  old  pamphlets  and  newspapers 
on  which  he  relicd,anddemonstrates  that  hisown  authorities  are  against  him.— Boston  Tkansceipt. 

THE    GREYSON   LETTERS.     Selections  from  the  Correspondence  of 

B.  E.  H.  Greyson,  Esq.    Edited  by  Henry  Roqebs,  Author  of  "  The  Eclipse  of  Faith.'* 

12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

"  Mr,  Greyson  and  Mr.  Rogers  are  one  and  the  same  person.  The  whole  work  is  from  his  pen ; 
and  every  letter  is  radiant  with  the  genius  of  the  author  of  the  '  Eclipse  of  Faith.' "  It  discusses  a 
wide  range  of  subjects  in  the  most  attractive  manner.  It  abounds  in  the  keenest  wit  and  humor, 
satire  and  logic.  It  fairly  entitles  Mr.  Rogers  to  rank  with  Sydney  Smith  and  Charles  Lamb  as  a 
wit  and  humorist,  and  with  Bishop  Butler  as  a  reasoner. 

If  Mr.  Rogers  lives  to  accomplish  our  expectations,  we  feel  little  doubt  that  his  name  will  share, 
with  those  of  Butler  and  Pascal,  in  the  gratitude  andvenerationofposterity.  — London  Quarterly. 

Full  of  acute  observation,  of  subtle  analysis,  of  accurate  logic,  fine  description,  apt  quotation,  pithy- 
remark,  and  amusing  anecdote.  ...  A  book,  not  for  one  hour,  but  for  all  hours;  not  for  one  mood, 
but  for  every  mood,  to  think  over,  to  dream  over,  to  laugh  over.  — Boston  Journal. 

A  truly  good  book,  containing  wise,  true  and  original  reflections,  and  written  in  an  attractive  style. 

—  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Hillaed,  LL.  D.,  in  Boston  Courier. 

Mr.  Rogers  has  few  equals  as  a  critic,  moral  philosopher,  and  defender  of  truth.  .  .  .  This  volume 
is  full  of  entertainment,  and  full  of  food  for  thought,  to  feed  on.  — Philadelphia  Presbyterian. 

The  Letters  are  intellectual  gems,  radiant  with  beauty  and  the  lights  of  genius,  happily  inter- 
mingling the  grave  and  the  gay.  —  Christian  Observer. 

ESSAYS  IN  BIOGRAPHY  AND  CRITICISM.  By  Peter  Bayne, 
M.  A.,  Author  of  "  The  Christian  Life,  Social  and  Individual."  Arranged  in  two  Series, 
OR  Parts.    12mo,  cloth,  each,  $1.25. 

This  work  is  prepared  by  the  author  exclusively  for  his  American  publishers.    It  includes  eigh* 
teen  articles,  viz.: 
First  Series  :—  Thomas  De  Quincy.  —  Tennyson  and  his  Teachers.  —  Mrs.  Barrett  Browning. 

—  Recent  Aspects  of  British  Art.  —  Jolin  Ruskin.  —  Hugh  Aliller.  —  The  Modern  Novel  ;  Dickens,  &c. 

—  Ellis,  Acton,  and  Currer  Bell.  —  Charles  Kingsley. 

Second  Series  :  —  S.  T.  Coleridge.  —  T.  B.  Macaulay.  —  Alison.  ^  Wellington.  —  Napoleon.  — 
Plato.  -  Characteristics  of  Christian  Civilization.  —  Education  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  —  The 
Pulpit  and  the  Press. 

LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  JAMES  MONTGOI^IERY.  Abridged 
from  the  recent  London,  seven  volume  edition.  By  Mrs.  H.  C.  Knight,  Author 
of  '•  Lady  Huntington  and  her  Friends,"  &c.  With  a  fine  likeness  and  an  elegant 
illustrated  title  page  on  steel.    12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

This  is  an  original  biography  prepared  from  the  abundant,  but  ill-digested  materials  con- 
tained in  the  seven  octavo  volumes  of  the  London  edition.  The  great  biilk  of  that  worl<,  together 
With  the  heavy  style  of  its  literary  exe^'v.tioJi,  must  noccssarily  prevent  its  republication  in  this 
country.  At  the  same  time,  the  f/hri'jt'a*i  ^ofcC':  in  America  will  expect  some  memoir  of  a  poet 
whose  hymns  and  sacred  melodies  ha'  e  doci)  in  '>'  ligM  of  every  household.  This  work,  it  is  confi- 
dently hoped,  will  fully  satisfy  tlie  p'jH!  i  L'  f'c  f<  M  ii  prepared  by  one  who  has  already  won  distin- 
guished laurels  in  this  departmcHt  oT  hXtnfft'l  (XJ 


GOULD   AND  LINCOLN, 

59  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON, 

Would  call  particular  attention  to  the  following  valuable  worKS  described 
in  their  Catalogue  of  Publications,  viz. : 

Hugh.   Miller's    Works. 

Bayne's  Works.       Walker's  Works.       Miall's  Works.       Bungener's   Wo^k. 

Annnal  of  Scientific  Discovery.      Knight's  Knowledge  is  Power. 

Krummacher's  Suffering  Saviour, 

Banvard's  American  Histories.     The  Aimwell  Stories. 

Hewcomb's  Works.     Tweedie's  Works.     Chambers's  Works.     Harris'  Works. 

Kitto's  Cyclopeedia  of  Biblical  Literature. 

Mrs.  Knignfs  Life  of  Montgomery.        Kitto's  History  of  Palestin. 

Wheewell's  Work.     Wayland's  Works.     Agassiz's  Works. 


mmi 


Hugh  „,. 
David  A.  Wen, 

Arnold  Gujrot* 
Louis  Agassij 


r^eBtimony  ofBop^^  ^ 
^•Ann.  of  ScicDt.  Dig'oo-. 
Ik  Earth  and  Man, 
%  Principles  of  Zoology 

^MoUuseaandSb;;^,''   % 'a^u^C"  ^'^'«'<'- 
Wcsaur  ofiCng.  Word.%  ^«er  wtk  n  "'''; 
|Knowledgei,  Power.     '%  CharlerKn  ?."• 
m  Cyclop,  of  Eng.  I.iterat.,m    Robert  Cbfmh 
Jl  Cyclop,  of  Bible  Lit..      \J\    K!».      ''^''^"• 
|)\\Coneord.ofthe  Bible. 
»  Analyt.  Cono.  of  Bible, 
llWW,  Moral  Science, 
ra\  The  Great  Teacher, 


Kitto.  -  c^u'd;;. 

•Ead.e.  -  Wuiiams, 
francis  WaylanJ. 
V  John  Harris. 
''^''    Peter  Bayne. 


W^M 


^r.'syif^r//.Ti. 


William's  Works.     Guyot's  Works. 

Thompson's  Better  Land.     Kimball's  Heaven.    Valuable  Works  on  Missions. 

Haven's  Mental  Philosophy.     Buchanan's  Modern  Atheism. 

Cruden's  Condensed  Concordance.     Eadie's  Analytical  Concordance, 

The  Psalmist :  a  Collection    of  Hymns. 

Valuable  School  Books.     Works  for  Sabbath.  Schools. 

Memoir  of  Amos  Lawrence. 

Poetical  V^Torks  of  Milton,  Cowper,  Scott.       Elegant  Miniature  Volumes. 

Arvine's  Cyclopaedia  of  Anecdotes. 

Ripley's  Notes  on  Gospels,  Acts,  and  Homans. 

Sprague'B  European  Celebrities.     Marsh's  Camel  aud  the  Hallig. 

Roget's  Thesaurus  of  English  Words. 

Hackett's  Notes  on  Acts.     M'Whorter's  Yahveh.  Christ. 

Slebold  and  Stannius's  Comparative  Anatomy.    Marco's  Geological  Map,  IT.  S. 

Heligious   and  Miscellaneous  Works. 

Works  in  the  various  Departments  of  Literature,  Science  and  Art. 


»% 


LD21-i00w-7,'40(' 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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